Vienna Police Used Facial Recognition at Climate Protest Without Legal Basis
Vienna police used automated facial recognition to identify a climate protester in March 2023 without a legal basis, according to a complaint filed by the digital rights NGO epicenter.works. The NGO argues the system violates privacy rights and highlights risks of misidentification in the database of over 600,000 people.
What happened
During a climate protest against a gas conference in Vienna on 27–29 March 2023, police detained approximately 140 people. When a protester identified as N. refused to provide identification, police photographed him. The identity of N. was determined through automated facial recognition using a database maintained by the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior containing over 600,000 records.
The NGO epicenter.works filed a complaint on behalf of N., arguing that the use of facial recognition lacked legal basis. The complaint also noted that facial recognition errors have occurred, with some protesters being misidentified and subjected to proceedings despite not attending the demonstration.
Reported impact
N. and other protesters were charged with resisting state authority based on facial recognition identification results. While charges against N. and 165 other climate activists were eventually dismissed, the use of facial recognition to identify protesters raises concerns about surveillance of political activity.
Index analysis
According to the European Court of Justice, the use of such tools cannot be arbitrarily expanded. The Austrian facial recognition database contains records on over 8 percent of the Austrian population, which epicenter.works characterizes as an expansion beyond permissible scope. Facial recognition technology is inherently error-prone, as demonstrated by an Austrian citizen detained for two months in Serbia in autumn 2023 based on a false facial recognition match before being released after his innocence was established.
Governance controls
The NGO epicenter.works argues that automated facial recognition against political protesters should not be used at all, or only under clear regulatory rules if deemed necessary. According to reporting, N. stated that facial recognition software is legally problematic and should not be deployed against political demonstrations.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.