Expert criticizes facial recognition plans at Fedpol

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The federal detectives are arming themselves. The Federal Bureau of Police (Fedpol) now wants to use facial recognition to convict criminals. Images from, for example, a security camera must now be comparable to the database of the police. Today, Fedpol can only search the database for fingerprints and names. A month ago, the Federal Council approved CHF 25 million for the new system.

But now there are doubts about the legality of the venture. Monika Simmler, assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of St Gallen, told the newspapers “CH Media” that facial recognition is a serious violation of fundamental rights. Because personal data are processed that deserve special protection.

Parliament must have a say

“A general ordinance-level authorization is not enough for this,” says Simmler, who specializes in the subject. On the contrary, the relevant law should be changed. She also puts forward a democratic-political argument for this: in contrast to an amendment to a regulation, the Bundesrat cannot only decide on a legislative amendment, but the parliament decides. And in a possible referendum, the voters have the last word.

Simmler is an SP cantonal councilor in St. Gallen. Against this background, their position is not surprising.

Fedpol admits mistakes

However, she is not the only expert to criticize. In particular, the fact that the Federal Council claimed in the press release about the new system that there was no facial recognition, caused irritation among lawyers. And that this is prohibited in Switzerland anyway. Instead of facial recognition, the federal government prefers to speak of “face image matching”.

“How the Federal Council came up with the idea that facial recognition is legally prohibited in Switzerland is a mystery,” writes lawyer Martin Steiger, who specializes in digital law, in his blog.

Fedpol now admits to “CH Media” that the wording is incorrect. It is true that facial recognition is only allowed if there is a legal basis for it.

Facial recognition must be used from 2026. What is controversial in Switzerland is already established in many other countries. Germany, for example, has been using such a system since 2008. (lha)

Source:Blick