Germany to test face recognition software to target terrorist suspects

Published time: 11 Jun, 2017 10:19

Germany will start testing facial recognition software at a Berlin train station this summer to help police track down and identify terrorist suspects, criminal offenders, and other security threats.

The software will initially be tested with volunteers at Berlin’s Suedkreuz Station. If the new system proves effective, its use will not be limited to railway stations, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said.

“We already have video surveillance in train stations,” Maiziere said on Saturday in an interview with German Tagesspiegel newspaper.

“We are not able, however, to put a picture of a terrorist on the run into software that would alert us when he appears somewhere at a station,” de Maiziere said. “If this software proves to be reliable, it should also be used for serious crimes in other public places equipped with surveillance cameras.”

The chances are low that the facial recognition software will run into legal obstacles, the Tagesspiegel report said, as it is primarily designed to target terrorist suspects and would not infringe on the rights of others.

Security authorities should also be allowed to access encrypted messages in services like WhatsApp, the minister said.

https://www.rt.com/news/391840-germany-face-recognition-terrorists/

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