Austria’s data protection authority has ruled that Vienna police unlawfully used automated facial recognition during a climate protest in March 2023, saying the practice had no clear legal basis.
The case stemmed from a demonstration against a gas conference, where police detained about 140 people over three days. The protest was later broken up by force, drawing criticism over alleged excessive policing. Among those detained was an activist identified as N., who refused to show ID. Police photographed him, later opened proceedings for resisting state authority, and then dropped the case, along with cases against 165 other activists.
According to the ruling, police used artificial intelligence to match his photo against a central biometric database. Privacy group epicenter.works filed the complaint on his behalf. The authority said the process involved highly intrusive biometric data and required a proper legal foundation, which it found was missing.
The decision could affect other police uses of facial recognition as well. Privacy advocates say such technology needs strict limits, judicial oversight, and safeguards against abuse. Austria’s Interior Ministry said it will appeal.
In a separate case, an Austrian man was wrongly detained in Serbia for two months after being misidentified from surveillance footage, underscoring the risks of automated identification.
