One piece of data they cannot access is firearm ownership. It is illegal to use a computer to store information about guns in America.
Palantir’s User Manual for Cops
11–20 of 164 posts
Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops
#12What motivates extremely talented tech workers to devote their limited working years to making the world a worse place to live in?
$
Surprisingly, at least for the Bay Area, the money doesn’t even seem to be that good: https://www.levels.fyi/?compare=Palantir,Google,Facebook&tra...
Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops
#13Would this be all that shocking to the general public? Watch any detective show and the fictional tools there are at least as capable as this real life tool.
"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't."
Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops
#14What motivates extremely talented tech workers to devote their limited working years to making the world a worse place to live in?
Why a worse place? In this particular example, Palantir is used by the cops to run investigations; it is just a more convenient user interface and analytical engine to already existing data sources. I don’t see anything particularly unethical here.
Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops
#15What motivates extremely talented tech workers to devote their limited working years to making the world a worse place to live in?
What leads well-off Americans, whose safety and comfort is guaranteed by the constant efforts of law enforcement, to conclude that legal efforts to make law enforcement more efficient would make the world a worse place?
An understanding of the inevitability of abuse of unchecked power.
Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops
#16What motivates extremely talented tech workers to devote their limited working years to making the world a worse place to live in?
What leads well-off Americans, whose safety and comfort is guaranteed by the constant efforts of law enforcement, to conclude that legal efforts to make law enforcement more efficient would make the world a worse place?
Paying attention to world history, for one.
For another, I've personally seen my work get turned from a human safety product in one market into a direct instrument of human oppression in another market. Lots of tech is just a tool, which can be used for good or evil. The thing is, once good people see what is possible, it provides them an easy route to doing evil which they might not have had before.
Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops
#17What motivates extremely talented tech workers to devote their limited working years to making the world a worse place to live in?
It's making it worse until something bad happens to someone you value. If Obama's daughters (or Trump's if you are on the other side) were killed in some horrific racist incident, wouldn't you approve the usage of such software if it was the only hope of getting the perpetrator? Or would you say "as much as I am saddened, I cannot approve such massive invasion of privacy".
Are you alleging that Palantir enables or encourages "horrific racist incidents"? Could you be more specific?
EDIT: I see what you mean. I had mistaken the meaning of OP. Please ignore this comment.
Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops
#18What motivates extremely talented tech workers to devote their limited working years to making the world a worse place to live in?
What leads well-off Americans, whose safety and comfort is guaranteed by the constant efforts of law enforcement, to conclude that legal efforts to make law enforcement more efficient would make the world a worse place?
Law enforcement is not without bias, and just because they’re using discretion for you today doesn’t mean they won’t use it against you later.
Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops
#19One piece of data they cannot access is firearm ownership. It is illegal to use a computer to store information about guns in America.
This is genuinely the most amusing joke I've heard today. How do you think background checks for purchases work?
Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops
#20What motivates extremely talented tech workers to devote their limited working years to making the world a worse place to live in?
What leads well-off Americans, whose safety and comfort is guaranteed by the constant efforts of law enforcement, to conclude that legal efforts to make law enforcement more efficient would make the world a worse place?
Ethics. The amount and scope of information collected by things like Palantir Gotham is beyond invasive. The fact that a police officer can type in your name and know where you were driving is disconcerting. It is about as Big Brother as you can get and not the kind of world I would like to live in. This question is a slippery slope, where people become more and more accustomed to less privacy. If you think this is justifiable, I would highly suggest reading up about the the Stasi in East Germany or read 1984.