Berlin Südkreuz facial recognition pilot slammed as "surveillance laboratory"
A year-long facial recognition pilot at Berlin Südkreuz station run by t he German Federal Police and Deutsche Bahn was labeled by critics a "surveillance laboratory" due to concerns that it normalised mass biometric monitoring, infringed on the privacy of thousands of commuters, and lacked a clear legal basis. Berlin Südkreuz is a rail station and transport interchange junction in southern Berlin that has been used by a number of recent German governments as a laboratory for live biometric and other forms of surveillance. The test involved roughly 300 volunteers who provided photos for a database; cameras then attempted to identify them among the roughly 100,000 daily commuters. While the police hailed the project as a success for counter-terrorism and security, civil rights groups and data protection advocates argued the experiment effectively turned a public transit hub into a "laboratory" for mass surveillance. The harm identified was the erosion of informational self-determination for the public, who were subjected to biometric scanning without explicit individual consent as they moved through a public space.
- Date it happened
- 2021-01-01
- Organisation involved
- Bundespolizei (BPOL); Deutsche Bahn
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