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posted by janrinok on Tuesday February 21 2023, @06:12AM   Printer-friendly

A court put strict limits on pulling innocent bystanders into big data investigations:

Britta Eder's list of phone contacts is full of people the German state considers to be criminals. As a defense lawyer in Hamburg, her client list includes anti-fascists, people who campaign against nuclear power, and members of the PKK, a banned militant Kurdish nationalist organization.

[...] But when Hamburg passed new legislation in 2019 allowing police to use data analytics software built by the CIA-backed company Palantir, she feared she could be pulled further into the big data dragnet. A feature of Palantir's Gotham platform allows police to map networks of phone contacts, placing people like Eder—who are connected to alleged criminals but are not criminals themselves—effectively under surveillance., she feared she could be pulled further into the big data dragnet. A feature of Palantir's Gotham platform allows police to map networks of phone contacts, placing people like Eder—who are connected to alleged criminals but are not criminals themselves—effectively under surveillance.

"I thought, this is the next step in police trying to get more possibilities to observe people without any concrete evidence linking them to a crime," Eder says. So she decided to become one of 11 claimants trying to get the Hamburg law annulled. Yesterday, they succeeded.

A top German court ruled the Hamburg law unconstitutional and issued strict guidelines for the first time about how automatic data analysis tools like Palantir's can be used by police, and it warned against the inclusion of data belonging to bystanders, such as witnesses or lawyers like Eder. The ruling said that the Hamburg law, and a similar law in Hesse, "allow police, with just one click, to create comprehensive profiles of persons, groups, and circles," without differentiating between suspected criminals and people who are connected to them.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by PiMuNu on Tuesday February 21 2023, @09:06AM (2 children)

    by PiMuNu (3823) on Tuesday February 21 2023, @09:06AM (#1292854)

    Palantir, beloved of the UK's NHS.

    Also the seeing stone that drove Denethor and Saruman to madness, broke them under Sauron's power and eventually led to their destruction. Just saying.

    • (Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday February 21 2023, @03:41PM (1 child)

      by looorg (578) on Tuesday February 21 2023, @03:41PM (#1292881)

      Also the seeing stone that drove Denethor and Saruman to madness, broke them under Sauron's power and eventually led to their destruction. Just saying.

      I asked them once about that. Trying to be funny, small talk. Like who the big LOTR fan was. The people there had no clue. Blank stare. I'm sure there are some fans there but the usual office people had no clue what I was talking about. I'm sure they have seen the movies and they might even have read the book. But it didn't stick. No lessons learned or something such.

      • (Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Tuesday February 21 2023, @05:17PM

        by PiMuNu (3823) on Tuesday February 21 2023, @05:17PM (#1292900)

        Laughs.

        I'm sure the senior people know.

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