Necessary tool in the fight against criminals – or unconstitutional? Bavaria is pushing ahead with the introduction of new police software. But there is also loud criticism.
Munich (dpa / lby) – The state government is sticking to the planned introduction of new analysis software for the Bavarian police – but there is no date for this yet. The Federal Constitutional Court considered automated data analysis to be fundamentally possible under restrictive conditions, the Ministry of the Interior emphasized on Thursday in Munich after a judgment by the Karlsruhe judges. Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) announced that the verdict would be analyzed in detail and, on this basis, a legal basis would be introduced in parliament in the Police Tasks Act (PAG).
After the Karlsruhe judgment, one thing is clear: when searching for potential criminals, the police may analyze large databases using software – but the court made strict requirements for their use. Regulations in Hesse and Hamburg have not yet met these requirements – the judges in Karlsruhe therefore declared them unconstitutional. However, a constitutional design is possible, said Court President Stephan Harbarth when the verdict was pronounced.
The program, which could potentially be used nationwide, combs through the various police databases to discover cross-connections that investigators might otherwise never notice. This should help the police to track down potential perpetrators before they can commit a crime. The Free State of Bavaria has concluded a framework agreement with the US company Palantir so that all other police forces can adopt its program without additional procurement procedures.
Herrmann emphasized that it will be ensured that the software can only be used under the conditions and stipulations formulated by the Federal Constitutional Court. He also assured that the software would only be used within the police network and without a connection to the Internet. “Access to the data from outside or data leakage to external servers is thus ruled out.” And he emphasized: “Only specially selected and specially trained police experts will be given access authorization.” Maximum data security and the best possible data protection are the basic requirements for using the software.
An examination of the program for possible backdoors has now been completed: Herrmann announced that the state parliament would be informed of the result of the source code examination by the Fraunhofer Institute SIT on March 8th. The exam took longer than planned.
Critics fear that Palantir could use the program to divert data from the police – partly because the company received money from the CIA as a start-up and later counted the US foreign intelligence service among its customers. The state parliament SPD called for the software to be stopped on Thursday. The decision of the Federal Constitutional Court “clearly puts a stop to the surveillance fantasies of the state government,” said SPD legal expert Horst Arnold.
