Overview

• A study by Dirk Lewandowski for AlgorithmWatch concludes that one-to-many searches of internet photos are only practical with a prebuilt biometric database, as live crawling and matching would take months or years.
• Article 5 of the EU AI Regulation prohibits creating or expanding face-recognition databases by indiscriminate scraping of online images or surveillance footage, rendering the necessary database unlawful.
• At a Berlin press conference, AlgorithmWatch, Amnesty International, the Chaos Computer Club, the Society for Civil Rights, and former federal data-protection commissioner Ulrich Kelber called on the government to halt cabinet preparations.
• Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt’s security package seeks to authorize internet-based facial searches for federal and state police, yet the leaked draft offers no lawful implementation path beyond a "technology- and product-neutral" phrasing.
• Experts warn police cannot rely on services like PimEyes or ClearviewAI, highlight risks of discrimination and chilling effects, and note the cabinet discussion was again removed from today’s agenda.