German authorities may restrict the use of Palantir spyware by intelligence agencies

The authorities of several German states have begun checking how local law enforcement agencies use software from the American company Palantir. Writes about it The Financial Times, who spoke with the authorities of several lands. According to the publication, representatives from Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia said that they are studying the use of this software.

In February, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, in response to a lawsuit against the states of Hesse and Hamburg, ruled that some rules for the use of this software by local law enforcement agencies are unconstitutional and violate the right of citizens to privacy.

The Hessen police have been using the HessenDATA tool based on Palantir technologies since 2017. Hamburg, Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia are just getting ready to introduce such tools. Now they will have to revise the rules for their application.

The lawsuit was filed by the human rights organization Society for Civil Liberties. Questions were raised by technologies developed by Palantir, aimed not at prosecuting people who have already committed a crime, but at predicting the possibility of committing one. As a result, it was recognized that the rules in force in Hesse and Hamburg allow such instruments to be used too widely, while their use is permissible only in relation to the most dangerous acts.

“We have to ask ourselves: is the use of data collection and artificial intelligence just complementary to regular policing? Or are there completely new opportunities for intrusion into private life?” – said in connection with this situation, the deputy of the Bundestag from the Green party and an expert in data protection and privacy Misbah Khan.

In September last year, the British Ministry of Health under public pressure ripped contract with Palantir for big data processing services.

Yana Rozhdestvenskaya