Palantir without a black box: Neo4j announces open alternative
The merger of the data analysis platform Neo4j and GraphAware's police software Hume is intended to create an open alternative to Palantir.
(Image: Wolf Hosbach / iX / KI)
US data analysis platform Neo4j has acquired the London-based company GraphAware, which offers analysis software for security and investigative organizations with Hume. The two companies announce that they will thus create a competitor to the controversial surveillance tool Palantir.
According to announcements from Neo4j and GraphAware, the combination of the established investigative software Hume with Neo4j's AI functions will serve in the future as a “trusted, open-standard alternative to existing black-box proprietary tools, like Palantir Gotham”.
There are no further details about the planned functions in the announcements, nor about how open the Palantir alternative will be, as both companies offer both open-source and commercial components. Neo4j only states, “Nothing important is hidden behind proprietary logic.”
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In any case, companies and authorities can use the software with their data and in their environment. Unlike Palantir, they also have access to the associated logic and data processing. The platform can be used in the cloud or on premises. Heise developer has inquired with the company about the extent to which US law enforcement agencies would have access to data.
Palantir is opaque
Hume has been using Neo4j for some time and specializes in the work of law enforcement agencies, the military, and financial investigators. The software combines complex and scattered data into a networked overview and shows connections and context. It is used by the Australian police, the US Department of Defense, and a cyber defense agency in an unnamed European country.
The US company Palantir is often criticized, particularly for the software's lack of transparency, lack of sovereignty due to dependence on a US provider, data protection, and the role of controversial investor Peter Thiel. A European alternative also comes from France.
For now, Neo4j and GraphAware will retain their structure; the takeover is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year and depends, among other things, on the confirmation of an Australian investor.
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