The surveillance software called Gotham, developed by US company Palantir, is billed as an all-rounder: gigantic amounts of data are brought together at lightning speed.

It only takes a few seconds to satisfy a police officer's curiosity: name, age, address, fines, criminal record. In combination with selected cellphones and the contents of scanned social media channels, a comprehensive profile of any person appears in an instant.

With the help of artificial intelligence (AI), the surveillance program developed by the US technology company seems to make the dreams of police and intelligence agencies come true.

Three of Germany's 16 federal states are already using Gotham: Bavaria, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. Baden-Württemberg is planning to implement it soon.

However, according to privacy advocates and civil rights organizations, it comes with a big problem: Along with those suspected of a crime, it can also ensnare innocent people.

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The German nonprofit group Society for Civil Rights (GFF) is fundamentally opposed to the use of programs like Palantir. That's why it has lodged a constitutional complaint against the large-scale data analysis in Bavaria.

"Anyone who files a complaint, or who is a victim of a crime, or........

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