Hamburg G20 Summit protests facial analysis database legality

Hamburg police's use of facial recognition software to investigate crimes during the protests against the G20 summit in July 2017 encroached on the fundamental rights of bystanders and other uninvolved people, according to the city's Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (DPA).

At the centre of the row was a database of facial images of over 100,000 people collected by police during the summit from static and mobile video surveillance cameras, as well as from private photographs and videos taken during the demonstrations. 

The images were stored for an indefinite time period on hard drives at the Hamburg police department, and could be compared with images of known criminals and suspects using Videmo 360 facial recognition software.

In July 2018, Hamburg's DPA told the police that there was 'insufficient legal justification for the biometric analysis of faces that could justify such intensive encroachments on fundamental rights of the large part of bystanders and other completely uninvolved persons.'

However, in October 2019 an administrative court in Hamburg declared that the DPA's order to delete the database had been illegal. The Hamburg police refused to delete the database, and continued to make the case for the use of automated facial recognition for major future events in the city.

System

• Videmo 360

• Hamburg G20 Summit Wikipedia profile

Research, advocacy

• Report for the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament (2021). Biometric and Mass Surveillance in EU Member States

• DiEM25 (2017). Hamburg transformed itself into an Orwellian dystopia for the G20 Summit

Legal, regulatory

• The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (2020). Hamburg Police deletes the biometric database for facial recognition created in the course of the G20 investigations (pdf)

• The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (2020). Datenschutzrechtliche Prüfung des Einsatzes einer Gesichtserkennungssoftware zur Aufklärung von Straftaten im Zusammenhang mit dem G20-Gipfel durch die Polizei Hamburg (pdf)

News, commentary, analysis

• https://www.dw.com/en/in-germany-controversy-still-surrounds-video-surveillance/a-50976630

• https://taz.de/Gerichtsurteil-gegen-Hamburger-Polizei/!5849119/

• https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/G20-Krawalle-Polizei-ignoriert-Loeschanordnung-des-Datenschuetzers-4537317.html

• https://www.lto.de/recht/nachrichten/n/vg-hamburg-17k203-19-anordnung-loeschung-datenbank-rechtswidrig-g20-gesichtserkennnung/

• https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/g20-in-hamburg-polizei-darf-datenbank-fuer-gesichtsabgleich-nutzen-a-1293187.html

• https://newsrnd.com/tech/2019-10-24--g20-in-hamburg--police-may-continue-to-use-data-base-for-facial-alignment-.HyYZn7kqB.html