Key facts
- Palantir Technologies is developing a real-time data-sharing network with UK police forces in the East of England.
- The Nectar project, involving Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Cambridgeshire police, aims to draw data from nine forces.
- The system processes sensitive personal information including political opinions, philosophical beliefs, and health records.
- Concerns have been raised by campaigners about potential human rights violations and mass surveillance.
- Senior MPs have expressed concerns about the system's legal underpinnings and data deletion policies.
Palantir Technologies has lost a five-force policing pilot program, reportedly due to funding pressures and project assessments. However, the company is continuing to advance its Nectar project in the East of England, which involves a real-time data-sharing network incorporating sensitive personal information from multiple UK police forces.
The Nectar project, a collaboration between Palantir and police forces in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Cambridgeshire, aims to create a unified view of data drawn from nine forces, with the ultimate goal of a national rollout. A similar initiative led by Leicestershire Police, involving data from five forces in the East Midlands, is also in progress.
Campaigners have voiced alarm over the project, fearing it could infringe on human rights and lead to "dystopian predictive policing" and indiscriminate mass surveillance. The types of data being processed include citizens' political opinions, philosophical beliefs, health records, trade union membership, sexual orientation, and race, alongside information on suspects, victims, witnesses, children, and vulnerable individuals. Senior MPs have also raised concerns, calling for examination of the system's legal underpinnings and potential risks related to data deletion and the flagging of individuals unconnected with wrongdoing.
Palantir has stated its software is not being used for predictive policing, but documents indicate it will be used to "assist with decision making" and "aid in the prevention, detection, and investigation of crimes" by combining crime records with other intelligence sources to create profiles of individuals.