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Palantir is using War on Terror tools to track American citizens

bloomberg.com

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Re: Palantir is using War on Terror tools to track American citizens

#81

Post by atom-morgan »

your-nanny wrote: post #53
opportune wrote: post #42

I'm much less concerned with Palantir being used internally by corporations to detect information leaks (although in practice this also means it will be used to quash whistleblowers), since that's at least a viable use for their technology. And it's good that Palantir is pivoting towards less invasive applications of their technology such as supply chain tracking. But the article touches on the biggest issue with Pal…

Thiel's genuine commitment to freedom is questionable. Also, he's a misogynist and jerk.

I do question his commitment to freedom. But a misogynist?

Re: Palantir is using War on Terror tools to track American citizens

#83

Post by [deleted] »

your-nanny wrote: post #53
opportune wrote: post #42

I'm much less concerned with Palantir being used internally by corporations to detect information leaks (although in practice this also means it will be used to quash whistleblowers), since that's at least a viable use for their technology. And it's good that Palantir is pivoting towards less invasive applications of their technology such as supply chain tracking. But the article touches on the biggest issue with Pal…

Thiel's genuine commitment to freedom is questionable. Also, he's a misogynist and jerk.

[deleted]

Re: Palantir is using War on Terror tools to track American citizens

#84

Post by 24gttghh »

jondiggsit wrote: post #11

I’ve always thought - I don’t care if the NSA is spying on US citizens because their job is national security. The problem is when those tools trickle down. All of a sudden you have a local cop with too much time on their hands spying on you. But if you’re not doing anything wrong, you shouldn’t have anything to hide, right? Isn’t that how the saying goes?

Wrong is too subjective for that to be a good enough reason to let these sort of entities spy on everyone. Let's say I disagree (I do) politically, legally, ethically, and morally with this invasion of privacy. Those collecting the data may see it as "wrong" that I feel this way and seek to punish me in some way for it, because this data point among others may give them power to oppress me. Within a democratic society I should have the freedom to peacefully disagree in this way, and that freedom is being eroded on a daily basis by these people and organizations.

Re: Palantir is using War on Terror tools to track American citizens

#85

Post by your-nanny »

atom-morgan wrote: post #81
your-nanny wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thiel's genuine commitment to freedom is questionable. Also, he's a misogynist and jerk.

I do question his commitment to freedom. But a misogynist?

I base my assertion on sentiments he has expressed, one if which was quoted in the Bloomberg article:

>The 1920s was the last time one could feel “genuinely optimistic” about American democracy, he said; since then, “the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women—two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians—have rendered the notion of ‘capitalist democracy’ into an oxymoron.”

Re: Palantir is using War on Terror tools to track American citizens

#86

Post by dpwm »

jonnybgood wrote: post #52
opportune wrote: post #42

I'm much less concerned with Palantir being used internally by corporations to detect information leaks (although in practice this also means it will be used to quash whistleblowers), since that's at least a viable use for their technology. And it's good that Palantir is pivoting towards less invasive applications of their technology such as supply chain tracking. But the article touches on the biggest issue with Pal…

Can you expand on exactly how Palantir is used for parellel construction?

Let's say I'm law enforcement and I have some information obtained in a way which wouldn't stand up even in the most farcical of courtrooms.

What I can do is use surveillance tools to find a way to effectively entrap you, to gather evidence. Think of it like a tip-off that you're not allowed to have.

Palantir specialises in providing tools to analyze and aggregate big data. If law enforcement has an interest in it, it's probably for dragnet-style surveillance. The problem is that the 4th amendment means there must be reasonable suspicion before the investigation can begin.

Most dragnet-style surveillance is incompatible with the 4th amendment. So law enforcement has to construct a reason for investigating the case that they should never have been investigating.

Re: Palantir is using War on Terror tools to track American citizens

#87

Post by notacoward »

beaconstudios wrote: post #4

Why does the media seem to be publishing so many "well duh" tier articles about various companies at the moment? "Big data company collects big data", "company known for monetising private data collects private data", "political consulting company profiles voters and tries to affect vote". No shit?

People have been aware of the basic facts for a while, but not its prevalence or significance. Also, nobody is as zealous as a new convert. Everyone wants to raise awareness of what they've just noticed themselves, even if others had noticed it long before. Thus thousands of articles have been written by journalists and bloggers about the same few things, while hundreds of HNers happily submit and upvote every one here even when they're redundant or poorly written.

Re: Palantir is using War on Terror tools to track American citizens

#88

Post by your-nanny »

aje403 wrote: post #75
your-nanny wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thiel's genuine commitment to freedom is questionable. Also, he's a misogynist and jerk.

Thank you for bringing your sexism agenda into a discussion on Palantir

I take it that your consent is agenda-free?

Re: Palantir is using War on Terror tools to track American citizens

#89

Post by EGreg »

Let’s suppose you have an actual solution, like a free open source platform that is used by millions of people and took you 7 years and half a million dollars to build, because you saw the problems coming back in 2011? A platform with 5 million users in 110 countries?

It seems the press of today won’t really care about solutions, but only highlighting a scandal. Am I wrong? What would one do to get them to write a story about actual solutions like solid.mit.edu or ours:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ1O_gmPneI

Press kit? News conference? Some kinda weird publicity stunt?

Serious question.

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