12 ms·

What makes them a shitty company? Why is their work reprehensible?

randycupertino 11y ago
They have one of the worst work/balances in the valley, fratty/kool aid culture, claim to be "making a difference" but really what they actually work on would be a major downside for most normal people. For example, they make targeting software and are very likely responsible for assassinations by the US and when we disappear people. They're also working on big brother tech if that's your thing.
- jonnybgood 11y ago
  What is targeting software? How are they responsible for assassinations and disappearing people? What is this big brother tech?
  - nefitty 11y ago
    Their YouTube channel has 100's of videos that show what they do. The one that blew my mind: GovCon7: Introduction to Palantir: https://youtu.be/f86VKjFSMJE https://youtu.be/f86VKjFSMJE
  - randycupertino 11y ago
    First of all: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies#Controversies https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies#Contro... Also: > When intruders from the hacker group Anonymous gained access to thousands of emails stored on the servers of the security firm HB Gary Federal, the emails revealed that Palantir had worked with HB Gary Federal to develop proposals for attacking WikiLeaks’ infrastructure, blackmailing its supporters and identifying donors. http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/02/09/did-security-firms-pitch-bank-of-america-on-sabotaging-wikileaks/#68a511c47556 http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/02/09/did-sec... There was also the sex scandal with their founder and a Stanford student: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/the-stanford-undergraduate-and-the-mentor.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/the-stanford-unde... This thread on HN also has some discussion about their government and military contracts: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11036156 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11036156
    - argonaut 11y ago
      The sex accusations ended up being baseless, and Stanford reversed their ban on Lonsdale entering the campus (and Stanford has a lower evidentiary standard than the courts) Also, your quote doesn't appear in that article at all any more.
      - randycupertino 11y ago
        Sorry here's another link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/06/07/startup-palantir-denies-its-prism-software-is-the-nsas-prism-surveillance-system/#3b4d95124463 http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/06/07/startup... Second to last paragraph. As for the sex accusations, who knows what really happened. Though the article doesn't exactly paint him- edit- either of them- in a flattering light. It does show poor judgement for the dude to get involved with a student he is mentoring. Then again, he also stumped on the campaign trail for Rand Paul of all people and also pals around with Mitt Romney.
        argonaut 11y ago
        Look, my point is, it's not valid to bring up the sex accusations, because they were proved to be false.
  - kafkaesq 11y ago
    "Targetting software" (as in, software that actually points a weapon at a target) most likely isn't something that Palantir is involved in. However, data mining for target leads (e.g. through cell phone, financial, social network + other data) would be much more up their alley.

They have one of the worst work/balances in the valley, fratty/kool aid culture, claim to be "making a difference" but really what they actually work on would be a major downside for most normal people. For example, they make targeting software and are very likely responsible for assassinations by the US and when we disappear people. They're also working on big brother tech if that's your thing.

jonnybgood 11y ago
What is targeting software? How are they responsible for assassinations and disappearing people? What is this big brother tech?
- nefitty 11y ago
  Their YouTube channel has 100's of videos that show what they do. The one that blew my mind: GovCon7: Introduction to Palantir: https://youtu.be/f86VKjFSMJE https://youtu.be/f86VKjFSMJE
- randycupertino 11y ago
  First of all: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies#Controversies https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies#Contro... Also: > When intruders from the hacker group Anonymous gained access to thousands of emails stored on the servers of the security firm HB Gary Federal, the emails revealed that Palantir had worked with HB Gary Federal to develop proposals for attacking WikiLeaks’ infrastructure, blackmailing its supporters and identifying donors. http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/02/09/did-security-firms-pitch-bank-of-america-on-sabotaging-wikileaks/#68a511c47556 http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/02/09/did-sec... There was also the sex scandal with their founder and a Stanford student: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/the-stanford-undergraduate-and-the-mentor.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/the-stanford-unde... This thread on HN also has some discussion about their government and military contracts: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11036156 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11036156
  - argonaut 11y ago
    The sex accusations ended up being baseless, and Stanford reversed their ban on Lonsdale entering the campus (and Stanford has a lower evidentiary standard than the courts) Also, your quote doesn't appear in that article at all any more.
    - randycupertino 11y ago
      Sorry here's another link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/06/07/startup-palantir-denies-its-prism-software-is-the-nsas-prism-surveillance-system/#3b4d95124463 http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/06/07/startup... Second to last paragraph. As for the sex accusations, who knows what really happened. Though the article doesn't exactly paint him- edit- either of them- in a flattering light. It does show poor judgement for the dude to get involved with a student he is mentoring. Then again, he also stumped on the campaign trail for Rand Paul of all people and also pals around with Mitt Romney.
      - argonaut 11y ago
        Look, my point is, it's not valid to bring up the sex accusations, because they were proved to be false.
- kafkaesq 11y ago
  "Targetting software" (as in, software that actually points a weapon at a target) most likely isn't something that Palantir is involved in. However, data mining for target leads (e.g. through cell phone, financial, social network + other data) would be much more up their alley.