AlgorithmWatch has published a position paper on a draft police law in Schleswig-Holstein that would allow real-time and retrospective biometric remote identification and AI-supported video surveillance. The organisation argues these powers interfere with fundamental rights and should be withdrawn; its warnings about effects are predictions and assessments, not independently tested findings.
How this is computed
- Key claims supported: 0 of 4
- Type of source: Institution on its own work
- Independent confirmation: None
Rates the source, not the topic and not our analysis.
Why it matters
Our reading: The paper illustrates how German state police laws are becoming a testing ground for biometric identification, with civil-society groups pressing for limits before adoption. Its weight in the process depends on whether lawmakers and courts share its legal assessment, which the published statement does not settle.
What the source says
- Unverifiable AlgorithmWatch warns that AI-supported video surveillance analysing behaviour patterns and identifying people could almost completely remove anonymity in public space and at places people cannot avoid, with possible effects on democratic rights.
- Unverifiable According to AlgorithmWatch, retrospective matching of biometric data against biometric data from the internet would create the technical preconditions for area-wide tracking of all people in public and digital public space.
- Vendor claim only AlgorithmWatch assesses the systems as a fundamental interference with fundamental rights that endangers transparency, non-discrimination and effective legal protection, and says the purposes named in the draft do not justify this.
- Vendor claim only AlgorithmWatch states: “Die durch den Gesetzesentwurf eingeführten Befugnisse sollten zurückgezogen werden.” (The powers introduced by the draft law should be withdrawn.)
The key caveat
All claims come from one advocacy organisation; the published excerpt cites no empirical or technical evidence, and neither the state government’s justification nor independent legal analysis is included.
Open questions
- What exactly does the draft text permit, under which conditions and safeguards, and how does the state government justify the powers?
- Where does the draft stand in the legislative process, and when is a vote in the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament expected?
- How would the retrospective internet-based biometric matching relate to EU rules on biometric identification?
What’s next
Watch whether the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament amends or removes the biometric identification powers as the draft moves forward.
Source: AlgorithmWatch, 30 September 2026: Stellungnahme zum Gesetz zur Fortentwicklung polizeirechtlicher Maßnahmen in Schleswig-Holstein
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