Saxony’s new police law: AI manhunts and facial recognition approved

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The Saxon state parliament passed a major overhaul of the police law that expands digital surveillance powers and takes effect immediately. The new rules allow AI-supported video monitoring, real-time facial recognition, biometric matching of faces and voices from public online data, and the use of spyware in encrypted messenger services. The law also adds license plate scanning and new drone-defense powers. The debate is highly controversial because civil-rights groups warn about black-box algorithmic decision-making and an expanded surveillance infrastructure, while supporters argue that automated analysis is necessary to handle growing data volumes.

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