Advance in Germany

Police to be allowed to use facial recognition

In the search for suspected terrorists and serious criminals, the German Federal Criminal Police Office and the German Federal Police are to be allowed to use facial recognition software in future. This is provided for in a draft law by German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD).

This would allow investigators to compare Internet videos of IS members with images on social networks in order to obtain clues as to the Islamists' whereabouts.

The investigating authorities have long been pushing for the use of such tools to be permitted. This demand was given new impetus following the arrest of former RAF terrorist Daniela Klette. Months earlier, a Canadian journalist had used a facial recognition program to find older alleged photos of Klette and her dance groups in Berlin on the Internet.

Real-time recognition not planned
The planned amendment to the law, which still has to be approved by the cabinet and Bundestag, is therefore intended to enable investigators to carry out biometric comparisons with image data from the internet as well as automated data analysis using artificial intelligence.

However, real-time facial recognition in public spaces - for example through video surveillance at train stations - is expressly not planned, according to the ministry.