German police deployment automatic data analysis tool from Palantir is unconstitutional

The German Bundesverfassungsgericht has ruled that the use of automated data analysis software from the American company Palantir, as used by the police in Hessen, is not in line with the constitution.

The Bundesverfassungsgericht writes that the regulations in Hesse and Hamburg that allow this deployment are unconstitutional. In Hessen, the software has been used since 2017 for processing stored personal data via automated data analyses; this is done via the hessenDATA platform that the police in Hesse has used thousands of times. In Hamburg, the processing by the police has not yet actually been used and has been limited to automated data interpretation. Hesse must amend the legislation before September 30 and the system will not be installed in Hamburg.

The Court finds that the legislation for the use of the software is contrary to the right to informational self-determination, or the control that citizens have over what happens to their personal data. That judgment was passed because, according to the judges, insufficient barriers have been built in to use the data. According to the Court, the legislation allows the further use of the data as a precautionary measure to prevent certain criminal acts. The rules are formulated too broadly, both in terms of data and in terms of the methods that the police may use, according to the Bundesverfassungsgericht. That use is only allowed in case of concrete danger and that bar is much higher than the legislation in Hesse and Hamburg prescribes.

The verdict makes it clear that the police may, in principle, engage in data mining and make automated connections with the aim of preventing criminal acts, but then the law must specify very clearly under which circumstances this is permissible. In the case of Hessen and Hamburg, this was not sufficiently the case and the constitutional right to informational self-determination was therefore violated.

This case was brought last year by the German organization Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte. The organization believes the software could be used to predict criminal activity, which would increase the likelihood of errors and discrimination by authorities. The organization states that the ruling has significantly reduced the risk that the police will target innocent civilians. “Today, the Bundesverfassungsgericht banned the police from looking into the crystal ball and formulated strict guidelines for the use of intelligent software in policing. This was important because the automation of policing has only just begun,” say the head of the legal team of the Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte.