Munich (dpa / lby) – The test of the new analysis software for the Bavarian police takes longer than initially estimated. The procedure for checking the program for possible back doors is not yet complete, said a spokesman for the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) in Munich. At first it was unclear when the source code check should be completed and why it was taking longer than planned. First, the “Frankfurter Rundschau” (Thursday edition) reported.
At the beginning of July 2022, the LKA announced that the results of the investigation by the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology should be available by the end of the year. The program of the controversial US company Palantir should only be used by the investigators when it is clear that there are no indications of security gaps, back doors or breaches of security standards.
The cross-procedural research and analysis system (VeRA) is to be used as a search index for all police databases in Bavaria, namely for investigations into serious crime, terrorism or murder, but also for gang theft and child pornography. All other state criminal investigation offices in Germany, the Federal Criminal Police Office and customs can also purchase the software through a framework agreement. Several countries recently also examined a purchase from the German subsidiary of Palantir.
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. According to the top data protection officer, a change in the law would be necessary in Bavaria for the use of VeRA.
The police in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia are already using Palantir programs for investigations. The Federal Constitutional Court is currently dealing with two constitutional complaints in this context. The plaintiffs want Karlsruhe to set strict requirements for the use of the technology.
