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I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree. I just don’t think that complaining about a tech company when what you actually dislike is what governments or oth

I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree. I just don’t think that complaining about a tech company when what you actually dislike is what governments or other organizations are doing is going to impact anything. But Palantir has been the “tech boogieman” since before I even left in 2014, so it probably always will be. It is admittedly easier to blame a smaller tech company as a scapegoat than try to address the larger governmental or organizational actors that you actually have grievances against. Just know it won’t do anything. The people who complain online aren’t their target market and never will be. And the paranoia lends way more credence to their dressed up search engine than it really deserves on technical merit alone. So in a way the people complaining about it are making the issue they’re so upset about worse.

catalogia 6y ago
> It is admittedly easier to blame a smaller tech company as a scapegoat than try to address the larger governmental or organizational actors that you actually have grievances against. Or you can do both. You might as well suppose that people are critical of the mercenary company Blackwater because they want to avoid criticizing America foreign policy and military exploits. I don't think that's accurate at all, it's been my experience that people who are critical of one are very often critical of the other as well. Similarly, it's been my experience that people critical of Palintar are also critical of the organizations and governments who use the services of Palintar.
int_19h 6y ago
The reason why Palantir is the "tech boogieman" is because it willingly and enthusiastically sells its tech to governments specifically for surveillance reasons, and even consults them as to how best integrate it all. And then we look at the politics of its owner, and it's explicitly anti-democratic - so it's not a coincidence. And yes, of course, complaining about Palantir online isn't going to change the government policy. But if working for Palantir means that no other self-respecting software engineer will want to shake your hand, then fewer people will want to work there, and their surveillance tech will be lower quality and have more holes in it.

catalogia 6y ago

> It is admittedly easier to blame a smaller tech company as a scapegoat than try to address the larger governmental or organizational actors that you actually have grievances against. Or you can do both. You might as well suppose that people are critical of the mercenary company Blackwater because they want to avoid criticizing America foreign policy and military exploits. I don't think that's accurate at all, it's been my experience that people who are critical of one are very often critical of the other as well. Similarly, it's been my experience that people critical of Palintar are also critical of the organizations and governments who use the services of Palintar.

int_19h 6y ago

The reason why Palantir is the "tech boogieman" is because it willingly and enthusiastically sells its tech to governments specifically for surveillance reasons, and even consults them as to how best integrate it all. And then we look at the politics of its owner, and it's explicitly anti-democratic - so it's not a coincidence. And yes, of course, complaining about Palantir online isn't going to change the government policy. But if working for Palantir means that no other self-respecting software engineer will want to shake your hand, then fewer people will want to work there, and their surveillance tech will be lower quality and have more holes in it.