Overview
- Moritz Hennemann took office for a five‑year term and on Tuesday publicly set five priorities that frame the BfDI as an independent watchdog and a force for state modernization.
- He pledged tougher scrutiny of data brokers and action against unauthorized transfers of personal data out of the EU, saying current EU tools are often exhausted in such cases.
- Hennemann warned that government proposals to narrow the Freedom of Information Act risk eroding citizens’ access to official records and instead called for a federal transparency law that links IFG rules with open‑data requirements.
- He voiced strong constitutional doubts about parts of the coalition’s intelligence‑service reform, which would expand BND and BfV powers for data collection, storage and automated analysis and allow new active countermeasures.
- Hennemann said centralizing business‑data supervision at the federal level could be useful but would require extra staff and funding, and he wants the BfDI to take a strategic, risk‑focused role in regulating AI to allow innovation while protecting rights.