Overview
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz publicly endorsed giving the BKA and federal police authority to actively disrupt ongoing cyberattacks.
- Three drafts from the Interior and Justice ministries would enable AI-assisted analysis of large datasets, automated biometric matching of suspects’ photos with online images, and mandatory three‑month IP address retention under defined conditions.
- Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig emphasizes constitutional limits, requires immediate deletion of non‑matching data, and ties the measures to amendments of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
- A related plan would allow the migration agency to confirm asylum seekers’ identities by comparing their biometrics with publicly available internet data solely for identification purposes.
- Civil‑liberties groups warn of biometric mass surveillance and legal risks around offensive cyber operations, as the package proceeds through consultations and then to the cabinet, Bundestag and Bundesrat, with enactment expected to take months.