Palantir: German investigators also use big data for minor crimes

Federal states such as Bavaria, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia use a limited version of the big data software Gotham from the controversial US company Palantir under various names. The politicians responsible justify this by stating that data analysis helps the police to avert or investigate serious threats such as terrorist attacks. In Bavaria, the corresponding "cross-procedural research and analysis platform" (VeRA) was used almost a hundred times between September 2024 and mid-May. However, more than twenty of these cases were for purposes other than those mentioned, for example crimes relating to "property and assets".

According to a report by WDR, NDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung, this is the result of the Bavarian government's response to an inquiry by Benjamin Adjei, spokesperson for the Bavarian Green Party parliamentary group on digitalization. According to the response, many entries point to major risks. However, the system is also used "for significantly less dangerous situations, and particularly often", complains computer scientist Adjei. The property crimes mentioned could be gang-related bicycle theft or ATM burglaries, for example.

Many innocent people in the grid?

The Bavarian data protection commissioner Thomas Petri is also concerned: if the police routinely use VeRA to prevent crimes, large numbers of innocent people would be exposed to the risk of police action. The state's Ministry of the Interior, however, points to the legal situation. The catalog of crimes for which VeRA can be used includes the property values sector. Only specially trained criminal investigators use the software, which prevents disproportionate expansion.

According to the report from Hesse, Palantir was awarded the contract following a Europe-wide tender, as the company's analysis tool was previously considered to be without alternative. There, 2000 civil servants could work with the HessenData version. They make use of it up to 15,000 times a year –, which suggests considerable use beyond terrorism and organized crime. However, the software can only show connections between data that the police already have. There is resistance in several countries to the nationwide use of the Palantirs data platform for criminal prosecution. The company, which was co-founded by Trump supporter Peter Thiel, has been criticized as a "key company in the surveillance industry".

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