Controversial Software - Police get new tools - SPD considers lawsuit [no comments]
The Bavarian Police will receive new tools to fight criminals. With the votes of CSU, Free Voters, and AfD, the Landtag approved several controversial changes to the Police Duties Law just before the summer break. The SPD-Faction announced that they would examine a constitutional court complaint.
A key point: The Police will be able to request the handover of recordings from surveillance cameras in certain cases in principle. The camera operators are then obligated to provide the material to investigators. According to the State Data Protection Officer, tens of thousands of cameras in the Free State alone could be affected by this new possibility in public transportation.
Access to Data from Various Sources
A second focal point is that the Police will be able to work with the procedural research and analysis platform (VeRA) in the future. This platform should be able to access data from all pools of the Bavarian Police, allowing investigators to search and analyze it. The goal: Recognize connections and gather information about the same person from various sources.
The program only has access to data that the Bavarian Police already collected. It should only be used in specific cases: According to the Bavarian Criminal Police Office, it concerns cases of serious and most serious criminality - and only scenarios where the Police want to prevent possible further crimes.
Software is controversial
The software is controversial because the manufacturer, the US startup Palantir, received money from the US intelligence service CIA as a startup and counts them among its customers. Data protection advocates expressed concern that Police data could flow to the USA. The Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology therefore examined the software's source code on behalf of the LKA and found no indications of hidden backdoors.
However, data protection advocates object to the software's access to Police data, which were originally collected for completely different purposes. Bavaria's highest data protection officer, Thomas Petri, therefore sees the so-called purpose binding principle at risk.
- Despite the controversy surrounding Palantir's software, which received funding from the US CIA and serves as a client, the Bavarian State Parliament, with support from the SPD, Free Voters, and AfD, approved its use by the Police for specific cases of serious criminality.
- In addition to the new capabilities granted to the Bavarian Police, they will also have access to the procedural research and analysis platform (VeRA), allowing them to analyze data from various sources for investigations, particularly in cases of serious and most serious criminality.
- The utilities sector in Bavaria may also be impacted by these changes, as the new law allows the Police to request recordings from surveillance cameras in certain instances, potentially affecting tens of thousands of cameras in public transportation alone.
- California State University's training programs have been instrumental in preparing individuals for roles in data protection and cybersecurity, enabling them to address concerns related to software like Palantir, ensuring that sensitive information remains protected.
- The SPD-Faction is set to examine a constitutional court complaint in response to the approval of these changes to the Police Duties Law, expressing concerns about potential infringements on data protection and the purpose binding principle, especially when considering foreign entities like the US intelligence service.
