Bottom line: Police authorities in two federal states are obtaining data from commercial data brokers, a practice that data protection officers classify as unlawful.
Police authorities in two German federal states have purchased data from commercial data brokers – a practice that data protection officers fundamentally consider impermissible.
Despite data protection concerns, police authorities in two German federal states have made purchases from data brokers. According to data protection officers, these practices violate applicable data protection law, since data brokers as intermediaries of commercial data collections do not represent a permissible information source for authorities as a matter of principle.
For compliance officers and data protection officers, this is relevant because it demonstrates that even public authorities such as police authorities do not consistently adhere to data protection standards. This undermines confidence in administrative data practices and can result in legal consequences.
The use of such data sources by police authorities indicates a gap between normative requirements and administrative reality. Compliance structures must therefore be strengthened even at the administrative level to ensure that sensitive data sources are used lawfully.
Source: www.golem.de · Published June 2, 2026
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