The older one gets, the more one agrees with rms.
ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants
11–20 of 281 posts
Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants
#12Elon Musk did the biggest data heist of all times.
I’m not sure I’d even call it that. It was obvious and happened in broad daylight in front of everyone. But much the ICE assaults, there isn’t much Americans can really do about it.
"We've tried nothing and are out of ideas."
Sounds like Americans are in general fine with all of it. Voting patterns hold. General sentiment still remains aligned with the status quo. There does not seem like there are any consequences for the representatives to not represent the people.
Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants
#13The "small government" conservatives really showed their true faces in 2025 and 2026. Anyone espousing these ideas will not be taken seriously by me going forward.
Bear in mind that corruption is politically agnostic. If there are no checks and balances, any government can be bought.
Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants
#14Private surveillance is so much more scary than regular government surveillance because they have every incentive to invent new ways of surveilling you that they then try to sell to governments, or private actors who want to influence the world. It's like classic government surveillance but every company you interacted with and every app you use may at some point turn on you and use your data against you, just becaus…
> Private surveillance is so much more scary than regular government surveillance because ... ... because the private sector tends to be far more competent and able to get shit done fast and effectively.
I really haven't found this to be true at all; corporations are just as dysfunctional or worse.
It's more that there's fewer legal protections, so private surveillance is a great way for governments to launder the illegal things they want to do.
Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants
#15Private surveillance is so much more scary than regular government surveillance because they have every incentive to invent new ways of surveilling you that they then try to sell to governments, or private actors who want to influence the world. It's like classic government surveillance but every company you interacted with and every app you use may at some point turn on you and use your data against you, just becaus…
The article says the data was 'surveilled' by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and HHS in the performance of Medicare/Medicaid claims, with that surveillance fed to Palentir.
Palentir has certainly assisted, but the origin of the data collection here was public and then unleashed by the state to private entity.
Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants
#16Both Trump presidencies have really shown how little check there is on the White House when it comes to coordinating among these agencies. Heck literally one of the first the things he did in Jan 2016 is try to find out which park ranger posted a sparse inauguration photo. It wouldn't even occur to me that he was the de facto boss of millions of people in this way
Cause consider the previous status quo. It was considered somehow scandalous for Bill Clinton to have an opinion on what his AG Janet Reno was doing
Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants
#17Remember: every bit of data collected through a google-analytic, doubleclick, etc. link can potentially be abused for this as well. Techies have a responsibility as well. Remove them from your applications, or replace them with safer alternatives, and don't log (meta-)data just because it might be useful one day.
Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants
#18Shameful
Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants
#19The "small government" conservatives really showed their true faces in 2025 and 2026. Anyone espousing these ideas will not be taken seriously by me going forward.
Bear in mind that corruption is politically agnostic. If there are no checks and balances, any government can be bought.
Yes but at least in places like Venezuela and Philippines it can be bought cheap enough the common man might be able to access it.
It's almost worse in the USA because the corruption is only accessible to those in quasi-oligarchical roles. There's some point at which increased corruption actually becomes more egalitarian (though obviously, not as egalitarian as zero corruption).
Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants
#20Private surveillance is so much more scary than regular government surveillance because they have every incentive to invent new ways of surveilling you that they then try to sell to governments, or private actors who want to influence the world. It's like classic government surveillance but every company you interacted with and every app you use may at some point turn on you and use your data against you, just becaus…
> Private surveillance is so much more scary than regular government surveillance because ... ... because the private sector tends to be far more competent and able to get shit done fast and effectively.
Corporations are not disallowed to have a single master database. Government databases are at least in some cases firewalled off each other by law.