Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Britain gave Palantir access to sensitive COVID-19 patient records in £1 deal

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 80 posts

Re: Britain gave Palantir access to sensitive COVID-19 patient records in £1 deal

#11

Post by an_opabinia »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #2

Headline could use some help, dang, it's really not representative of the full story: "The contract, known as a data-sharing agreement, was published Friday by politics website OpenDemocracy and law firm Foxglove alongside similar contracts with Google, Microsoft, and U.K. AI start-up Faculty." "The contracts show Palantir charged only £1 ($1.27) for use of its Foundry data management software while Google offered “t…

> And the NHS has been in hot water for handing out sensitive patient data to tech firms before.

Without the perspective of someone who works in the NHS with Palantir's software, it's impossible to say if the NHS and the public got a good deal.

Re: Britain gave Palantir access to sensitive COVID-19 patient records in £1 deal

#12

Post by Traster »

thedudeabides5 wrote: post #9

Funny how no one wants to talk about the reason that the NHS is doing these deals. Of all the competent devs / data analyst in the UK, how many do you think actually want to work at the NHS? So lots of demand / need (healthcare is a mess in part because of data management via paper) and no supply / interest of talent.

Of all the competent devs / data analysts in the UK, how many do you think actually want to work for GCHQ? I would have thought not very many, and yet plenty fo them do.

Re: Britain gave Palantir access to sensitive COVID-19 patient records in £1 deal

#13

Post by mschuster91 »

an_opabinia wrote: post #11
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #2

Headline could use some help, dang, it's really not representative of the full story: "The contract, known as a data-sharing agreement, was published Friday by politics website OpenDemocracy and law firm Foxglove alongside similar contracts with Google, Microsoft, and U.K. AI start-up Faculty." "The contracts show Palantir charged only £1 ($1.27) for use of its Foundry data management software while Google offered “t…

> And the NHS has been in hot water for handing out sensitive patient data to tech firms before. Without the perspective of someone who works in the NHS with Palantir's software, it's impossible to say if the NHS and the public got a good deal.

No matter how usable and helpful the software is for the front line workers, the fact remains that Palantir has extensive access to the medical and according to the article also criminal history of everyone in the UK.

Who can promise that there are no side channels to the USA or no covert exfiltration using "backups" or "integration systems"?

Re: Britain gave Palantir access to sensitive COVID-19 patient records in £1 deal

#14

Post by google234123 »

marcinzm wrote: post #10
thedudeabides5 wrote: post #9

Funny how no one wants to talk about the reason that the NHS is doing these deals. Of all the competent devs / data analyst in the UK, how many do you think actually want to work at the NHS? So lots of demand / need (healthcare is a mess in part because of data management via paper) and no supply / interest of talent.

I think many people talk about it but from a different context. The NHS is being de-funded by the same politicians whose friends benefit from these deals. Hard to hire competent people when your budget keeps getting cut.

£136.7 billion seems like a lot. It also seems like it's been exponentially going up since 1950.

Re: Britain gave Palantir access to sensitive COVID-19 patient records in £1 deal

#15

Post by nojito »

mschuster91 wrote: post #13
an_opabinia wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the NHS has been in hot water for handing out sensitive patient data to tech firms before. Without the perspective of someone who works in the NHS with Palantir's software, it's impossible to say if the NHS and the public got a good deal.

No matter how usable and helpful the software is for the front line workers, the fact remains that Palantir has extensive access to the medical and according to the article also criminal history of everyone in the UK. Who can promise that there are no side channels to the USA or no covert exfiltration using "backups" or "integration systems"?

Why would palantir risk their EU business by breaking the trust of the contract and move information to the US?

Re: Britain gave Palantir access to sensitive COVID-19 patient records in £1 deal

#16

Post by nickff »

The article text seems to indicate that Palantir was offering data analysis software/services to the British government for a nominal fee. It doesn't seem like NHS was selling the data, they just needed some services, and paying £1 was required to bind Palantir in a contract.

This title really seems like click-bait.

Re: Britain gave Palantir access to sensitive COVID-19 patient records in £1 deal

#18

Post by drocer88 »

marcinzm wrote: post #10
thedudeabides5 wrote: post #9

Funny how no one wants to talk about the reason that the NHS is doing these deals. Of all the competent devs / data analyst in the UK, how many do you think actually want to work at the NHS? So lots of demand / need (healthcare is a mess in part because of data management via paper) and no supply / interest of talent.

I think many people talk about it but from a different context. The NHS is being de-funded by the same politicians whose friends benefit from these deals. Hard to hire competent people when your budget keeps getting cut.

https://fullfact.org/health/spending-english-nhs/

Total health spending in England was around £129 billion in 2018/19 and is expected to rise to nearly £134 billion by 2019/20, taking inflation into account.

Re: Britain gave Palantir access to sensitive COVID-19 patient records in £1 deal

#19

Post by mschuster91 »

nojito wrote: post #15
mschuster91 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No matter how usable and helpful the software is for the front line workers, the fact remains that Palantir has extensive access to the medical and according to the article also criminal history of everyone in the UK. Who can promise that there are no side channels to the USA or no covert exfiltration using "backups" or "integration systems"?

Why would palantir risk their EU business by breaking the trust of the contract and move information to the US?

Because this shit has literally happened before, only with GE being responsible instead of Palantir. https://www.itpro.co.uk/640090/ge-healthcare-comes-clean-ove...

In other cases, data has been outright sold: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/07/nhs-medical...

And what do you think why Palantir and the other offer their services for one pound?! It's all about that data. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/google-apple-amazon-nhs-heal...

Re: Britain gave Palantir access to sensitive COVID-19 patient records in £1 deal

#20

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

nojito wrote: post #15
mschuster91 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No matter how usable and helpful the software is for the front line workers, the fact remains that Palantir has extensive access to the medical and according to the article also criminal history of everyone in the UK. Who can promise that there are no side channels to the USA or no covert exfiltration using "backups" or "integration systems"?

Why would palantir risk their EU business by breaking the trust of the contract and move information to the US?

Because the NHS is about to be sold off as part of Brexit, and they can profit hugely from a slice of that action, while pretending they followed the rules until Brexit was completed.
Post reply on HN