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Thuringia’s CDU-SPD-BSW governing coalition has proposed amendments to the state Police Tasks Act that would substantially broaden technical surveillance authorities. The measures include AI-assisted police data analysis, automated video surveillance with behavioral recognition, biometric facial and internet searches, electronic monitoring, and wider conditions for deploying state trojans, including on suspicion of threats to critical facilities. The proposal also permits Taser use.
The Chaos Computer Club and regional digital-rights groups have called for the surveillance powers to be removed, warning of indiscriminate collection of bystanders’ data, discriminatory outcomes, and state retention or exploitation of IT vulnerabilities. Thuringia’s German Police Union likewise criticized the bill despite supporting modern police tools, seeking defined intervention thresholds, judicial approval for automated analysis, independent audits, periodic reviews, parliamentary reporting, and safeguards for protests and detainees; it warned that the resulting sensitive data could attract organized crime and foreign intelligence services.
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Mandy Koch of the Thuringia chapter of the German Police Union criticized vague legal thresholds and called for judicial authorization, external audits, recurring evaluations, parliamentary reporting, and safeguards for assemblies and detainees. The union also warned that data gathered through expanded surveillance could be targeted by organized cybercrime and foreign intelligence services.
The Thuringian state parliament conducted an expert hearing on the proposed reform, which also includes electronic ankle monitors, Taser authorization, and surveillance with behavioral analysis in police custody rooms.
The Chaos Computer Club, Krautspace Jena, Bytespeicher Erfurt, and Netz39 issued a statement calling for the removal of behavioral recognition, automated data analysis, biometric facial recognition, and state-trojan authorization provisions from the bill.
The CDU, SPD, and BSW governing coalition submitted bill Drucksache 8/2478, the second amendment to Thuringia's Police Tasks Act. The proposal would expand police powers for automated video behavioral analysis, data analysis, biometric facial recognition, and state hacking.
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Civil society groups in Germany, including Amnesty International and the Chaos Computer Club, urged the government to withdraw draft laws that would expand digital policing powers through **biometric internet searches** and automated analysis of large police datasets using systems such as **Palantir**. Critics said the proposals from the justice and interior ministries lack judicial oversight, transparency, documentation requirements, and clear limits on data scope and analytical methods, creating risks of mass surveillance, discriminatory profiling, and intrusive scrutiny of victims, witnesses, and uninvolved people. Germany’s independent data protection authorities also concluded that the measures, as drafted, are incompatible with constitutional requirements and could effectively sidestep the EU AI Act’s ban on mass facial-image processing into biometric databases. At the EU level, a coalition led by **BEUC** and 31 other organizations warned that the proposed **AI Omnibus** could dilute safeguards by exempting sectors such as medical devices, radio equipment, toys, and machinery from the AI regulation’s direct scope. The groups argued that existing sector-specific product rules do not address AI-specific harms including discrimination, opacity, and the evolving behavior of AI systems, and said the change would create regulatory gaps, fragmentation, and legal uncertainty rather than simplification. They warned that weakening the framework would undermine consumer protection, fundamental rights, and trust in European AI governance as trilogue negotiations continue.
Jun 29, 2026
Germany’s cabinet approved a draft intelligence reform bill that would significantly expand the powers of the foreign intelligence service **BND** and the domestic intelligence agency **BfV**, giving them authority to move beyond passive collection into active cyber operations. The proposal would allow longer retention and analysis of communications data, online searches of devices, covert home entry by the BfV, and limited manipulation of data on compromised systems in imminent-danger cases. It would also authorize action against clearly identified attacker-controlled IT systems such as command-and-control infrastructure, while shifting approval for the most intrusive measures to the **Unabhängiger Kontrollrat**. The overhaul would additionally permit hacking foreign systems, disrupting hostile supply chains, disabling infrastructure, and conducting deception operations, while requiring telecommunications carriers and digital service providers to assist intelligence activities. The government says the changes are needed to counter hybrid threats, terrorism, hostile state activity, and other modern IT-based dangers; critics argue the bill marks a major expansion of surveillance and offensive state powers that could face constitutional challenges. A provision that would have required the **BSI** to share security vulnerabilities with intelligence agencies was removed before the draft was submitted.
Aug 16, 2026
Researchers reported that malware allegedly used by German authorities for lawful interception included capabilities far beyond court-permitted wiretapping. Analysis of samples released publicly after allegations by the Chaos Computer Club showed the spyware could perform **keylogging**, capture **screenshots**, record **audio**, remotely control infected systems, exfiltrate data, and download and execute additional files, raising concerns that its functionality exceeded Germany’s legal surveillance boundaries. ESET identified the sample as `Win32/R2D2.A` after finding the transmission string `C3PO-r2d2-POE` in the malware. The report noted anecdotal links to Bavarian contractor DigiTask but said binary analysis alone could not conclusively attribute the malware’s origin. It also argued that antivirus vendors should detect such software if it behaves maliciously, regardless of whether it was allegedly built for law enforcement, and highlighted broader legal and ethical tensions over government spyware and privacy protections.
Jun 29, 2026