Saxony-Anhalt plans to use Palantir: Data protection officers warn of surveillance!

Saxony-Anhalt plans to use Palantir: Data protection officers warn of surveillance!

Sachsen-Anhalt, Deutschland - The discussion about the use of the controversial data analysis platform Palantir in the German police is increasingly gaining driving. The CDU-led Interior Ministry in Saxony-Anhalt, with a new bill, causes a stir, which provides for the introduction of software for police work. While the software-based analysis is already established in Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria, the plans of Saxony-Anhalt are criticized. mdr reports that experts consider the legal framework as problematic and question the need for such a solution.

Palantir, with a market value of around $ 300 billion, was founded in 2003 and specializes in the analysis of large amounts of data, which can automatically link them from various sources. The software is not only used in the area of ​​fighting crime, but also in terrorist defense and in the health sector. The software has the nickname "Gotham" in Germany, while the Bavarian police have been using the platform under the name "Vera" since 2024. Deutschlandfunk emphasizes that the use by the police in Hesse, the first federal state with Palantir, takes place.

concerns about data protection and monitoring

The introduction of the software in Saxony-Anhalt not only comes across political opposition, but also on resistance from data protectionists and civil rights activists. Eva von Angern, the head of the left faction, calls Palantir as "data octopus" and questions the need to go his own way in Saxony-Anhalt. Sebastian Striegel from the Greens is also skeptical and pleads for the evaluation of large amounts of data, but not with Palantir. mdr in particular emphasizes the fears of a possible surveillance state that leads critics around the use of the software.

A central point of criticism is the risk of data abuse and the effects on the fundamental right to informational self -determination. For example, uninvolved people came through radio cell queries without their knowledge in analysis systems from Palantir. network policy describes that these and other data protection concerns have already been discussed in an oral hearing.

preliminary solutions and long way to efficient police work

The Federal Council called for a platform for automated data analyzes for the police work of the federal states on March 21, 2025. Despite the demands, there is still no significant progress in developing alternative software solutions. The Federal Ministry of the Interior currently sees no suitable European or open source alternatives to Palantir. Deutschlandfunk reports that there are already constitutional complaints against police laws that provide the use of Palantir.

While individual federal states such as Berlin and Baden-Württemberg are still examining options, it remains to be seen how the situation in Saxony-Anhalt and other federal states will develop. Despite the extensive criticism, the software could remain an interim solution for the time being, since the challenges in modern police work should not be underestimated.