21 December 2025
Patchwork Policing
In November 2025, the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia amended their state police laws to enable or expand the use of the US intelligence software Palantir – and thus triggered debate on AI use. Meanwhile, France and Luxembourg prioritise authorising AI-supported video analysis in public spaces. While the regulatory details may differ, the underlying dynamic is the same: legislatures are progressively expanding AI-assisted police powers without a coherent regulatory concept, exposing fundamental rights to uneven and unnecessary risks. Continue reading >>
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22 March 2023
Big Brother is Watching the Olympic Games – and Everything Else in Public Spaces
The French National Assembly is currently debating the law on the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Despite its name, the law has more to do with security than with sports. In particular, Article 7 of the law creates a legal basis for algorithmic video surveillance, that is, video surveillance that relies on artificial intelligence to treat the images and audio of video surveillance cameras in order to identify human beings, objects, or specific situations. In other words, video surveillance cameras in France’s public spaces would now able to identify you and detect if your behaviour is suspicious. Continue reading >>
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