BERLIN (Reuters) – A top German court ruled on Thursday that police use of automated data analysis to prevent crime in some German states was unconstitutional, dealing a win to critics of the CIA-backed Palantir Technologies that provides the software.
Provisions regulating the use of the technology in Hesse and Hamburg violate the right to informational self-determination under the German constitution, a statement from the constitutional court said.
Hesse, the central German state home to Frankfurt, has used automated data analysis thousands of times annually since its introduction in 2017, including to target an underground network charged with plotting to overthrow the national government in December.
The state has been given a Sept. 30 deadline to rewrite its provisions, while legislation in Hamburg – where the technology was not yet in use – was nullified.
“Given the particularly broad wording of the powers, in terms of both the data and the methods concerned, the grounds for interference fall far short of the constitutionally required threshold of an identifiable danger,” the court said.
However, court president Stephan Harbarth said states had the option “of shaping the legal basis for further processing of stored data files in a constitutional manner”.
U.S.-based Palantir Technologies makes software for data analytics used by intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world, according to its website.
In comments to the Handelsblatt newspaper, Palantir’s strategy chief in Europe, Jan Hiesserich, said the company merely provides the software for processing data, not the data itself.
“Which data is relevant for investigation in this context is determined exclusively by our customers in accordance with relevant legal provisions,” he said.
The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Thursday.
The German Society for Civil Rights (GFF), which brought the case against police data analysis, said Palantir software used innocent people’s data to form suspicions and could also produce errors, affecting people at risk of police discrimination.
(Reporting by Rachel More and Ursula Knapp; Editing by Miranda Murray and Bernadette Baum)
By: OAN
