Palantir's Policing Software in Germany: A Double-Edged Sword
Police Authorities' Discourse on Palantir: Boundaries of Permissible Use
In a bid to enhance data analysis and improve the fight against complex crimes, German authorities are considering the adoption of Palantir's policing software. However, the move is met with both advantages and concerns.
Pros
The software's primary advantage lies in its powerful investigative support. By linking and analyzing data from diverse sources such as police records, social media, and health data, Palantir could potentially revolutionize the fight against serious crimes like terrorism. The adoption of Palantir's software is not limited to Bavaria, with states such as Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia already using or planning to use the software.
Moreover, the software's ability to integrate multi-source intelligence could enhance proactive threat detection. For instance, in the Solingen knife attack case, prior online data was found to be relevant, highlighting the software's potential to track announced threats.
Cons
Despite its advantages, Palantir's software raises significant concerns. One major issue is the risk of systemic bias and discrimination. Predictive policing algorithms like Palantir’s have shown tendencies to disproportionately target minority communities, reinforcing existing biases due to data overrepresentation in police records.
Privacy and civil rights concerns are another major issue. Palantir’s extensive data linking capabilities raise fears of privacy intrusion and lack of transparency, with concerns about political influence and government surveillance. The software also comes with high costs and vendor lock-in, with licensing fees starting over $1 million per year and difficult migration or exit strategies.
Legal challenges and public skepticism are also prevalent. Civil rights groups have filed constitutional complaints against Palantir’s use in Bavaria, reflecting societal and legal resistance to its deployment. Data protection advocates fear that police data could potentially flow to the USA, a concern denied by Palantir as they claim no internet or external server connection.
Other Factors
The Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology has reviewed Palantir's software's source code and found no evidence of hidden backdoors. Bavaria's chief data protection officer, Thomas Petri, sees the so-called purpose limitation principle at risk.
The Bavarian LKA has negotiated a framework contract that allows all states and the federal government to purchase the software for their police authorities. The data can be displayed in networks, on maps, in chronological order, or as plain text tables. New dossiers can then be created from the information.
The more serious the crimes to be prevented and the greater the immediate danger, the more data may be used in the analysis, with the review of the stated reasons lying with the LKA itself in Bavaria. Co-founder and chairman of the board of Palantir is US billionaire Peter Thiel, who has faced criticism for his political preferences in Germany.
Investigators must specify the purpose of their use and the data they access each time they use the program. In Baden-Württemberg, the green-black coalition has agreed to use it after internal disputes. The federal and state governments must jointly decide on a joint system.
The software's use has allegedly led to several successes, such as the arrest of a suspect in Hesse in 2017 and the linking of a perpetrator to a main suspect in the Bergisch Gladbach abuse case in North Rhine-Westphalia. However, in early 2023, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the legal basis created by the state for this purpose was unconstitutional.
Palantir's program, used in Bavaria under the name VeRA, allows investigators to search and analyze data from all corners of the Bavarian police. Palantir considers itself largely unrivaled in its field and criticizes potential alternatives as "debacles" compared to their "Known and Proven" status.
- The technology giant Palantir's policing software, with its advanced capabilities for data analysis and linking multi-source intelligence, is being considered by German authorities for general-news subjects like fighting complex crimes and terrorism, but concerns about systemic bias, privacy intrusion, and political influence persist.
- In the realm of politics and crime-and-justice, the implementation of Palantir's software in Germany has provoked debate, with civil rights groups filing complaints over its purported potential for disproportionately targeting minority communities and concerns about data privacy and surveillance.
