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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)
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