Palantir is using War on Terror tools to track American citizens

Post by narag » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 2:51 PM UTC

ideophobia wrote: post #126

opportune wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To what extent are searches/queries/data-accesses performed by analysts logged and audited? Were there actual and official repercussions for looking at the data of family members and romantic interests?

From what I recall all activity is logged. We also had numerous external databases/tools that were essentially API connections to reduce the number of separate logins we'd have to do, and each of those databases had their own audit mechanisms. Long before we ever had Palantir in my department, we did have an employee who had misused a database for personal reasons. They were initially terminated but that was undone u…

Post by ensignro2340 » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 2:57 PM UTC

knuththetruth wrote: post #137

atom-morgan wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, he's observing a trend and comparing its results to the ideal “capitalist democracy” that Thiel wish existed. Women, in general, aren't very libertarian especially on fiscal issues. He's not saying their rights should be taken away. I'll admit, it isn't the best worded statement in the world.

Describing your “ideal society” and then depicting one group, especially one who was politically and socially disempowered at the time, as an obstacle to it is called scapegoating. Historically, this ideology has had some very bad consequences.

Post by babygoat » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 3:02 PM UTC

jstanley wrote: post #134

your-nanny wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He isn't saying that they ought to never have been granted?

No, he isn't saying that.

Post by specialist » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 3:03 PM UTC

RedTennisRacket wrote: post #174

opportune wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Law enforcement uses dragnet warrantless surveillance to gather data (such as who is calling whom, who is in physical proximity with whom). That data is loaded into Palantir's software. Law enforcement uses that data to acquire admissible evidence of the perpetrators' crimes. This is the crucial step, because although the original evidence couldn't be admissible in court due to its collection without a warrant, it ca…

You raise several good points, but a few clarifications here: - In our software that we deploy to police departments, generally the origin of any piece of information is tracked, as well as when it was entered and by who. The intention with this is to prevent this (and other) kinds of abuse. Malicious users can still abuse the system and do a parallel construction e.g. outside of our system or maybe in a way that the…

Post by vorpalhex » Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 3:09 PM UTC

ianai wrote: post #22

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?

Or worse, at some point that information is available to people who actively want to hurt or stalk you. Every bad divorce leaves at least one person with an axe to grind. It’s only a matter of time before collected information gets to adversary hands. As someone who recently left a very abusive, toxic workplace, I see this as a reality.