Policy·Europe
Germany Proposes Biometric Internet Matching for Law Enforc.
Key Points
- 1New draft legislation introduces biometric internet matching for police.
- 2Regulatory shift allows automated cross-referencing of online images.
- 3Potential increase in surveillance raises concerns over data sovereignty.
Germany's Federal Ministry of Justice, led by Minister Stefanie Hubig, has drafted new regulations that propose allowing law enforcement to conduct automated biometric matching of online images. This draft aims to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to give police two powerful tools: automated biometric internet matching and AI-assisted analysis platforms, enabling them to compare biometric data from suspects against vast public internet databases. Although the Ministry insists it will only use existing public data without creating new databases, experts warn that this could lead to extensive surveillance practices.
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