Privacy advocates have criticized Deutsche Bahn’s plans to equip all railway staff with body‑cams and urged that the personality rights of passengers be protected.
“The use of body‑cams represents a serious intrusion into the fundamental rights of the affected persons” said Alexander Roßnagel, the state data‑protection officer for Hessen who oversees the company’s data‑protection matters. “While the protection of life and safety is a high‑level legal interest, passengers’ rights to personality must also be taken into account”. He added that recordings should only be made for specific, legitimate reasons and must be kept to the minimum extent possible.
According to Roßnagel, all passengers need to be informed when they are being filmed, and body‑cams may only record in “escalating situations”. He stressed that the processing of the data must always be safeguarded against misuse.
The Foundation for Data Protection added a further warning, pointing out a potential shift toward “continuous surveillance of the population”. “If body‑cams remain in standby mode, a permanent recording will take place” said its scientific director Kirsten Bock. She is particularly concerned that even unconnected, innocent people – essentially “by‑catch” – could be recorded. Such individuals might quickly find themselves at the centre of police investigations and would have to defend themselves against evidence that was gathered without their knowledge.
Bock argues that the cameras should not operate continuously and without the standby mode that would trigger recording. She insists that operators must always give a clear sign or notice when the cameras are turned on.
Deutsche Bahn announced on Friday that it will broaden its security measures in response to a fatal attack on a train attendant, and the body‑cam deployment is part of that expansion.