German court says police use of crime data tech 'unlawful'

Germany's Federal Constitutional Court on Thursday declared as unconstitutional regulations in the states of Hesse and Hamburg that allow police to automatically process personal data using special software to prevent crime.

Both German states must now make improvements in how the software, which helped police probe an underground network charged with plotting to overthrow the German government, is allowed to be used.

What did the court say about the rules?

The Karlsruhe-based court criticized state laws for not regulating circumstances in which data could be processed precisely enough, and demanded that the legislation be rewritten.

"Given the particularly broad wording of the powers, in terms of both the data and the methods concerned, the grounds for interference fall far short of the constitutionally required threshold of an identifiable danger," the judges said.

Provisions regulating the use of the technology in the central state of Hesse and the northern city-state of Hamburg violated the right to informational self-determination, a statement from the constitutional court said.

The court ruled that automated data analysis or interpretation could be justified, but that the seriousness of the possible crimes must be taken into account.

"Compatibility with the principle of proportionality is of particular importance, the specific requirements of which depend on the reach of the powers in question," it said.

The court said the two states had successfully demonstrated the need for the technology, given the "increasing use of digital media and means of communication."

"Particularly in the areas of terrorist and extremist violence and organized and serious crime, the police authorities are faced with ever larger data streams that are increasingly heterogeneous in terms of their quality and format."

What does the software do?

Provided by the CIA-backed Palantir Technologies, the software can find connections that individual investigators would not see.

It networks information already stored in various police inventories with each other to help establish relationships between people, groups, or even places and things.

At a previous hearing, a Hesse state official explained that a suspected ATM bomber had been arrested after the software, named "Hessendata," showed that a certain car was near several crime scenes.

Hessendata is available to some 2,000 police officers and has been used to investigate terrorism, organized crime, and child sex abuse. 

The software was also used to investigate the far-right, underground "Reichsbürger" network, with some of its members charged with plotting to overthrow the German government in December, an official told the court.

The case challenging the use of the software was brought by the German Society for Civil Rights. The group argued that the  software used innocent people's data to provide leads and could also produce errors, as well as impact people at risk of police discrimination.

What happens next?

The state of Hesse has been given a deadline of September 30 to rewrite its provisions, while the present legislation in Hamburg — where the technology is not yet in use — was nullified.

A constitutional complaint against the law in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which also already uses the software, is still pending in Karlsruhe. Other states also want to allow their police forces to use automated data analysis.

Constitutional Court president Stephan Harbarth said states now had the option "of shaping the legal basis for further processing of stored data files in a constitutional manner."

rc/rs (Reuters, AFP, dpa)

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