IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/310963.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

In Palantir we trust? Regulation of data analysis platforms in public security

Author

Listed:
  • Ulbricht, Lena
  • Egbert, Simon

Abstract

Organizations increasingly rely on digital technologies to perform tasks. To do so, they have to integrate data banks to make the data usable. We argue that there is a growing, academically underexplored market consisting of data integration and analysis platforms. We explain that, especially in the public sector, the regulatory implications of data integration and analysis must be studied because they affect vulnerable citizens and because it is not just a matter of state agencies overseeing technology companies but also of the state overseeing itself. We propose a platform-theory-based conceptual approach that directs our attention towards the specific characteristics of platforms—such as datafication, modularity, and multilaterality and the associated regulatory challenges. Due to a scarcity of empirical analyses about how public sector platforms are regulated, we undertake an in-depth case study of a data integration and analysis platform operated by Palantir Technologies in the German federal state of Hesse. Our analysis of the regulatory activities and conflicts uncovers many obstacles to effective platform regulation. Drawing on recent initiatives to improve intermediary liability, we ultimately point to additional paths for regulating public sector platforms. Our findings also highlight the importance of political factors in platform regulation-as-a-practice. We conclude that platform regulation in the public sector is not only about technology-specific regulation but also about general mechanisms of democratic control, such as the separation of power, public transparency, and civil rights.

Suggested Citation

  • Ulbricht, Lena & Egbert, Simon, 2024. "In Palantir we trust? Regulation of data analysis platforms in public security," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 11(3), pages 1-15.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:310963
    DOI: 10.1177/20539517241255108
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/310963/1/Full-text-article-Ulbricht-Egbert-In-palantir-we-trust.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/20539517241255108?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rieder, Bernhard & Hofmann, Jeanette, 2020. "Towards platform observability," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 9(4), pages 1-28.
    2. Gorwa, Robert, 2021. "Elections, Institutions, and the Regulatory Politics of Platform Governance: The Case of the German NetzDG," SocArXiv 2exrw, Center for Open Science.
    3. Gorwa, Robert, 2019. "What is Platform Governance?," SocArXiv fbu27, Center for Open Science.
    4. Rocco Bellanova & Marieke de Goede, 2022. "The algorithmic regulation of security: An infrastructural perspective," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(1), pages 102-118, January.
    5. Christel Koop & Martin Lodge, 2017. "What is regulation? An interdisciplinary concept analysis," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(1), pages 95-108, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Griffin, Rachel, 2022. "New school speech regulation as a regulatory strategy against hate speech on social media: The case of Germany's NetzDG," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(9).
    2. Ulbricht, Lena & Yeung, Karen, 2022. "Algorithmic regulation: A maturing concept for investigating regulation of and through algorithms," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 16(1), pages 3-22.
    3. Trithara, Dakoda, 2024. "Agents of platform governance: Analyzing U.S. civil society's role in contesting online content moderation," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(4).
    4. Wu, Mian & Liu, Yulong & Chung, Henry F.L. & Guo, Shoujia, 2022. "When and how mobile payment platform complementors matter in cross-border B2B e-commerce ecosystems? An integration of process and modularization analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 843-854.
    5. Gorwa, Robert, 2019. "The platform governance triangle: conceptualising the informal regulation of online content," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 8(2), pages 1-22.
    6. Alexander Oluka, 2024. "The impact of digital platforms on traditional market structures," Technology audit and production reserves, PC TECHNOLOGY CENTER, vol. 2(4(76)), pages 21-29, April.
    7. Sanna Malinen, 2021. "Boundary Control as Gatekeeping in Facebook Groups," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(4), pages 73-81.
    8. Hyungjun Seo & Seunghwan Myeong, 2021. "Determinant Factors for Adoption of Government as a Platform in South Korea: Mediating Effects on the Perception of Intelligent Information Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-20, September.
    9. Peng, Hui & Lu, Yaobin & Gupta, Sumeet, 2023. "Promoting value emergence through digital platform ecosystems: Perspectives on resource integration in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    10. Gorwa, Robert, 2021. "Elections, institutions, and the regulatory politics of platform governance: The case of the German NetzDG," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6).
    11. Maayan Davidovitz & Nissim Cohen, 2022. "Alone in the campaign: Distrust in regulators and the coping of front‐line workers," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), pages 1005-1021, October.
    12. Wu, Mian & (David) Liu, Yulong & Jasimuddin, Sajjad M. & (Justin) Zhang, Zuopeng, 2023. "Rethinking cross-border mobile payment ecosystems: A process study of mobile payment platform complementors, network effect holes and ecosystem modules," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(1).
    13. Hongyang He & Bin Zhang, 2022. "Effective Synergy of Market Agents: The Core of Achieving Multi-Agent Governance on the Internet Platform," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-20, December.
    14. Poell, Thomas & Nieborg, David & van Dijck, José, 2019. "Platformisation," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 8(4), pages 1-13.
    15. Kyungmoo Heo & Sangyoon Yi, 2023. "(De)centralization in the governance of blockchain systems: cryptocurrency cases," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 12(3), pages 59-82, September.
    16. Yu Zeng & Quan Zhang & Qi Zhao & Huang Huang, 2023. "Doing more among institutional boundaries: Platform‐enabled government in China," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 40(3), pages 458-478, May.
    17. Balázs Bodó & Heleen Janssen, 2022. "Maintaining trust in a technologized public sector [Machine Bias]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 41(3), pages 414-429.
    18. Ya-Lan Chin & Feng-Shang Wu & Jian-Bing Liu & Yan Li & Jin Wang, 2024. "Exploring the role of interaction in older-adult service innovation: insights from the testing stage," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    19. Daniel Etse & Adela McMurray & Nuttawuth Muenjohn, 2022. "The Effect of Regulation on Sustainable Procurement: Organisational Leadership and Culture as Mediators," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 305-325, May.
    20. Cowls, Josh & Morley, Jessica & Floridi, Luciano, 2023. "App store governance: Implications, limitations, and regulatory responses," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(1).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:310963. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.