A Software for Authoritarian Restructuring
German Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt is considering deploying the American software Palantir in Germany. It is a surveillance tool of right-wing tech oligarchs.
Palantir is a tool used for total surveillance by anti-democratic tech oligarchs with strong ties to the extreme right in Donald Trump’s administration. With the AI-backed software, the police gather all possible data even about people above suspicion who may have once made a statement to the police or been pulled over. It is completely hair-raising — especially after Trump’s assumption of power — that more and more German security firms are using it and that German Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria is also considering deploying the software at the federal level.
It would be yet another area of critical infrastructure in which the Federal Republic of Germany would be unnecessarily making itself dependent. Palantir’s founder, Peter Thiel, is a proud anti-democrat and supporter of JD Vance, friend of the Alternative for Germany party and vice president of the U.S. Thiel’s company is providing the software to Trump for the authoritarian restructuring of the military, police and intelligence services. The software is the technological basis for the comprehensive surveillance state.
Instead of relying on insecure software from the U.S., Dobrindt should instead provide for domestic alternatives that are compatible with the rule of law and that local security services can work with. Otherwise, Germany will make itself even more vulnerable to extortion by the U.S. than it already is — not to mention the money that is being thrown into the hands of an anti-democratic billionaire.
The legal basis for using Palantir is more than questionable. Comprehensive screening of the population without due cause contradicts basic democratic principles. A complaint of unconstitutionality lodged against the software in the German state of Hessen has already been successful, and other suits are pending in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bayern.
The fact that Dobrindt and the alliance of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and Christian Social Union in Bavaria parties apparently want to create a precedent reveals a naïve understanding of security architecture. No one can 100% ensure that the U.S. company has not built a back door into the software. Deciding to introduce autocratic surveillance software in times of a global turn to authoritarianism is a huge mistake.
Palantir is a tool used for total surveillance by anti-democratic tech oligarchs with strong ties to the extreme right in Donald Trump’s administration. With the AI-backed software, the police gather all possible data even about people above suspicion who may have once made a statement to the police or been pulled over. It is completely hair-raising — especially after Trump’s assumption of power — that more and more German security firms are using it and that German Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria is also considering deploying the software at the federal level.
It would be yet another area of critical infrastructure in which the Federal Republic of Germany would be unnecessarily making itself dependent. Palantir’s founder, Peter Thiel, is a proud anti-democrat and supporter of JD Vance, friend of the Alternative for Germany party and vice president of the U.S. Thiel’s company is providing the software to Trump for the authoritarian restructuring of the military, police and intelligence services. The software is the technological basis for the comprehensive surveillance state.
Instead of relying on insecure software from the U.S., Dobrindt should instead provide for domestic alternatives that are compatible with the rule of law and that local security services can work with. Otherwise, Germany will make itself even more vulnerable to extortion by the U.S. than it already is — not to mention the money that is being thrown into the hands of an anti-democratic billionaire.
The legal basis for using Palantir is more than questionable. Comprehensive screening of the population without due cause contradicts basic democratic principles. A complaint of unconstitutionality lodged against the software in the German state of Hessen has already been successful, and other suits are pending in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bayern.
The fact that Dobrindt and the alliance of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and Christian Social Union in Bavaria parties apparently want to create a precedent reveals a naïve understanding of security architecture. No one can 100% ensure that the U.S. company has not built a back door into the software. Deciding to introduce autocratic surveillance software in times of a global turn to authoritarianism is a huge mistake.
Previous article![]( "Trump Tariffs: Diplomacy Is Dead. Long Live Social Media Theatrics")
Next article![]( "Trump’s Ultimatum on Ukraine Is Put to the Test by Putin")
