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I think what’s specific to Palantir is their insistence on working with only organizations like DHS and law enforcement. Intelligence data fusion centers are us

by glenda 6y ago

I think what’s specific to Palantir is their insistence on working with only organizations like DHS and law enforcement. Intelligence data fusion centers are used to compile data from various agencies and they’re stocked with tools like Palantir and Dataminr but IBM, Microsoft and all the usual players also offer fusion center data management products which I would consider to be just as harmful.

trowaway888 6y ago
I think that statement is inaccurate. They do not work with only organizations like DHS and law enforcement. In general, I think roughly 40-60% of their work is with what you described and the rest is commercial entities. I imagine many vendors service organizations like DHS and law enforcement. Are they all threats to liberty? In concrete terms, what is the threat, or why are they a threat to liberty?
- glenda 6y ago
  They are a threat to liberty because they are used to perform surveillance and intelligence gathering on American citizens. Before the Snowden revelation this kind of behavior would have been considered criminal.
  - prepend 6y ago
    Is that Palantir or the analysts that use it? I think what confuses me is I still don’t understand your argument. Is Excel a threat to liberty because it is also used massively to perform surveillance? Palantir is a software company with professional services. I’m not sure if you think they are a threat because you don’t understand what they do. Or because you think all software companies that do this work are a threat? Or because you think Palantir is so much better than Microsoft and IBM and all their competitors? Or something else.
  - trowaway888 6y ago
    Everything that is publicly available states that Palantir does not do surveillance or intelligence gathering...Or data collecting, gathering or mining. I have not used the platforms, but others here seem to validate that. Do you have any sources of this claim? It would be helpful and valuable for framing my perspective and the discussion at large.
dx87 6y ago
Outside of SV, working with law enforcement and government agencies isn't viewed as a cardinal sin. I wouldn't claim they're a threat to liberty just because you don't like them.
- glenda 6y ago
  Intelligence operations against your own citizens is a serious reason to have an issue with those organizations. It’s not just a personal preference.
prepend 6y ago
> working with only organizations like DHS and law enforcement. Is this true? I thought they work with all industries and they seem to have a big financial and healthcare practice. Wikipedia [0] calls out major companies such as Morgan Stanley, Merck KGaA, Airbus, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV. And those aren’t part of homeland security. Some random report I found online [1] lists their closest competitors as Cognizant, Infosys, Cerner, and Wipro. That are just big analytics consulting groups and an EHR vendor. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies [1] https://incfact.com/company/palantirtechnologies-paloalto-ca/ https://incfact.com/company/palantirtechnologies-paloalto-ca...

by glenda 6y ago

trowaway888 6y ago

I think that statement is inaccurate. They do not work with only organizations like DHS and law enforcement. In general, I think roughly 40-60% of their work is with what you described and the rest is commercial entities. I imagine many vendors service organizations like DHS and law enforcement. Are they all threats to liberty? In concrete terms, what is the threat, or why are they a threat to liberty?

glenda 6y ago
They are a threat to liberty because they are used to perform surveillance and intelligence gathering on American citizens. Before the Snowden revelation this kind of behavior would have been considered criminal.
- prepend 6y ago
  Is that Palantir or the analysts that use it? I think what confuses me is I still don’t understand your argument. Is Excel a threat to liberty because it is also used massively to perform surveillance? Palantir is a software company with professional services. I’m not sure if you think they are a threat because you don’t understand what they do. Or because you think all software companies that do this work are a threat? Or because you think Palantir is so much better than Microsoft and IBM and all their competitors? Or something else.
- trowaway888 6y ago
  Everything that is publicly available states that Palantir does not do surveillance or intelligence gathering...Or data collecting, gathering or mining. I have not used the platforms, but others here seem to validate that. Do you have any sources of this claim? It would be helpful and valuable for framing my perspective and the discussion at large.

dx87 6y ago

Outside of SV, working with law enforcement and government agencies isn't viewed as a cardinal sin. I wouldn't claim they're a threat to liberty just because you don't like them.

glenda 6y ago
Intelligence operations against your own citizens is a serious reason to have an issue with those organizations. It’s not just a personal preference.

prepend 6y ago

> working with only organizations like DHS and law enforcement. Is this true? I thought they work with all industries and they seem to have a big financial and healthcare practice. Wikipedia [0] calls out major companies such as Morgan Stanley, Merck KGaA, Airbus, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV. And those aren’t part of homeland security. Some random report I found online [1] lists their closest competitors as Cognizant, Infosys, Cerner, and Wipro. That are just big analytics consulting groups and an EHR vendor. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies [1] https://incfact.com/company/palantirtechnologies-paloalto-ca/ https://incfact.com/company/palantirtechnologies-paloalto-ca...