Politicians want to delay SBB monitoring plans

The response came late. It took SBB a week to explain in an interview with CH Media that they did not want to introduce facial recognition at train stations. However, according to SBB Management Manager Alexis Leuthold, it is not known which technology should be used instead.

The SBB led by Vincent Ducrot (60) does not receive a free ticket from parliament. Rather, in the session starting Monday, there will be a sprinkle of advances from left to right.

The plans became public through an article in “K-Tipp”. Since then, the reports have not stopped. Shocked by the numerous media reports, the responsible environment and transport department (UVEK) at the top of the SBB became aware of the project, according to information from Blick. And even in the GPK subcommittee responsible for UVEK, SBB monitoring is a problem.

Green advocates a ban

The claims of the federal railways that the data would be collected anonymously, that there would be no link to personal data and that data protection would be guaranteed have little effect. And the fact that a public affairs specialist from the SBB approached various parliamentarians about this did not help either.

Several national councilors are now taking initiatives: Marionna Schlatter (42, Greens) asks the Federal Council for information on the legal basis on which the federal railways want to base the more extensive monitoring of the stations. Whether there is one for commercial use is controversial.

“For me, the question also arises as to whether there is a general legal need to act to ban eavesdropping in public places,” she adds. Facial recognition software should be banned, she says.

New quality

SVP Reich Councilor Roland Rino Büchel (57) also asks questions about this to the state government. And Mitte’s party leader, Philipp Matthias Bregy (44), wants to know whether the Bundesrat knew that federal companies want to work with surveillance and biometric data in public space for commercial purposes – and how it deals with this. In particular, Bregy questions whether the Federal Council is willing to put state-owned companies in their place when it comes to video surveillance.

Alderman Jörg Mäder (47) talks about the subject in the GLP. “Together with other green liberals, I am working out approaches to overseeing the SBB,” he says. In essence, the point is that today’s surveillance systems offer much more extensive options than previous cameras, which simply recorded what happened and stored it for a short time. “Now we are dealing with a new quality.”

“define borders”

Mäder continues: “The question arises: does the basic right for cameras for security purposes and for statistically mapping commute traffic also mean that I can assess travellers’ age, gender, ethnicity, etc.? I do not think so. We have to set limits for SBB here.” Politicians want SBB to chart a new course.

Source:Blick