The federal government is tightening its plans for network surveillance. In addition to the announcement in late August that photos and videos from the Internet would be subjected to facial recognition by the police, videos and sound recordings will now also be screened using voice recognition.
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So yes: Facebook’s data transfer to Cambridge Analytica in Canada was wrongThis is revealed by documents available online on Heise. Following the deadly knife attack in Solingen, the government parties have divided their “security package” into two parts, a draft to amend the asylum system and one to “improve the fight against terrorism”. The executive has given both papers, which are available online on Heise, to the traffic light factions as “formulation aids”, the draft of a new chapter in the already increasingly intense anti-terrorism fight is important in terms of digital policy.
According to the draft, law enforcement officials should compare “biometric data on faces and voices” with information from social networks, for example, using automated technical processes not only for criminal prosecution, but also for security purposes. “This is aimed in particular at identifying and locating suspected terrorists and suspects.” For example, investigators could compare photographs of a targeted individual with IS propaganda videos to get clues about wanted individuals as well as accomplices or the people behind them.
The relevant paragraphs with which the laws of the BKA, the Federal Police and the Code of Criminal Procedure (STPO) are to be enriched do not refer only to terrorism. Rather, the subsequent comparison of biometric data should be allowed based on the extensive catalogue in section 100a STPO. This starts with murder and manslaughter, but also extends to tax crimes, computer fraud and receiving stolen property and even to everyday crime. Further requirements should be that “the crime is serious even in individual cases” and that “establishing the identity or determining the whereabouts would be substantially difficult or frustrating in any other way”.
Stop biometric live surveillance
“The comparison of data from real-time photo and real-time video files publicly accessible on the Internet is excluded,” the government writes. According to the justification, this should apply to both classic live streams and recordings from webcams in publicly accessible locations. On the other hand, photos and video files should be scanned “that are transmitted over the Internet by third parties against or without the consent of the person concerned or that inadvertently reveal information.” Critics warn of “all-round biometric surveillance” and a violation of the coalition agreement.
The ruling party also wants to allow automated analysis of police data by the BKA and the federal police supported by artificial intelligence (AI), as well as testing and training of data for AI applications for big data analysis in the style of Palantir and . This is likely to be the first time that prosecutors will be able to bring together and search a large number of police databases at once. Data protection advocates and legal experts have been warning for years that the presumption of innocence will be lost. The package is expected to be discussed for the first time in the Bundestag this week. Green party leader Katharina Dröge announced that she wants to “examine the drafts in detail,” especially “with a view to questions relating to constitutional and European law.”
(DS)
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