Intrusive impacts of remote proctoring by universities in Germany

GFF successfully litigated against the use of proctoring software: universities in Germany are not allowed to monitor students excessively.

As exams were shifted online during the COVID-19 pandemic, some German universities began to use proctoring software to monitor students taking their exams. This software may violate fundamental rights by processing a large amount of personal data, including identity, location, videos of movements, and the student’s room. During the pandemic, due to social distancing and other restrictions, there were limited, if any, in-person alternatives for taking exams. This meant students did not have a real and meaningful choice to opt out of monitoring.

In 2020, an initial application for a temporary injunction against video recording at the University of Hagen was rejected by the administrative court. However, the court did not examine the legal situation in detail, but merely decided the harms to the plaintiff were not sufficient to merit a temporary stop to the use of the software.

On 20 October 2022, GFF filed a complaint against the University of Erfurt at the Erfurt Regional Court for the use of proctoring software. For the lawsuit they cooperated with the “freier zusammenschluss von student*innenschaften” (fzs), the nationwide umbrella organisation of student associations.

In November 2024 the courts rejected the complaint because the plaintiff had not suffered any damage. However, they appealed to the Thuringian Higher Regional Court, who in November 2025 ruled in favour of the student.

According to GFF, the University of Erfurt used the Wiseflow application, which monitors students using methods including facial recognition. The university wanted to ensure that the same person always sat in front of the monitor. Wiseflow thus processed sensitive biometric data and also forwarded it to the service provider Amazon Web Services. The court declared this problematic practice unlawful and awarded the plaintiff damages.

GFF state that the ruling indicates that online examination practices of many universities during the Corona pandemic unduly interfered deeply with the fundamental rights of students – the right to privacy and the right to decide about one’s own data. The ruling also sends a signal to other areas, such as workplace monitoring.