German Constitutional Court Says The Use Of Automated Data Analysis By Police Unconstitutional

Minister of Home Affairs Hesse, Peter Beuth. (photo: twitter @RegHessen)

JAKARTA - The use of automatic data analysis technology by the police in several German states was deemed unconstitutional by the German Constitutional Court on Thursday 16 February. It is a win for technology critics provided by the CIA-backed Palantir Technologies.

The use of the technology in the states of Hesse and Hamburg violated the right to self-determination, said a statement from the Constitutional Court. The state of Hesse was given until September 30 to update its terms, while legislation in Hamburg, where the technology had not yet been used, was canceled.

Nonetheless, Chief Justice Stephan Harbarth said states had the option "to establish a legal basis for the processing of data files held in a constitutional manner."

Hesse's Minister of Home Affairs Peter Beuth said current practices should be strengthened and codified, but welcomed the decision recognizing that "the future police work will have to handle large amounts of data."

He said the technology had so far been used, among other things, to investigate an underground network accused of plotting to overthrow the German government in December.

Meanwhile, Palantir's Head of Strategy in Europe, Jan Hiesserich said that the US-based company only provides 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 the relevant legal provisions," Hiesserich told the Handelsblatt newspaper.

The German Society for Civil Rights (GFF), which brought the case against police data analysis, said Palantir's software uses data of innocent people to build suspicion and can also produce errors, affecting people at risk of police discrimination.