Overview
- The Landtag is set to add Paragraph 57a to the police law, allowing development, training, testing, validation and monitoring of IT systems using personal data, including clear names and face images when anonymization is deemed impractical, with possible third‑party transfer.
- A parallel, near‑identical measure in North Rhine‑Westphalia is scheduled for debate on Thursday, following Hamburg’s 2025 change, after Bavaria’s earlier tests with real data drew a rebuke from its data‑protection authority.
- Baden‑Württemberg has already signed a five‑year contract worth roughly €25 million with Palantir, lacks an exit clause and plans operational use from the second quarter of 2026.
- State officials say data will remain under police control in secured German data centers with no foreign access, and parliamentary oversight will review the software’s use.
- Opposition has intensified with about 13,000 petition signatures, warnings from data‑protection authorities including Tobias Keber and Bettina Gayk about constitutional risks, and a pledged lawsuit by the Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte.