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Palantir and Prism: A Possible Link

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Re: Palantir and Prism: A Possible Link

#21

Post by lucian1900 »

Anderkent wrote: post #7
potatolicious wrote: post #2

Not really a surprise. Palantir has always been secretive about what exactly it is they do every day, though it's always been implied and rumored that a large part is government intelligence work. Also the reason why I've ignored every contact from a Palantir recruiter so far. This smells like working for the white collar, air-conditioned, catered-lunch version of Blackwater.

>Also the reason why I've ignored every contact from a Palantir recruiter so far. This smells like working for the white collar, air-conditioned, catered-lunch version of Blackwater. Is this because you would not like to work at a company handling such data, or because you think you are making a difference by not doing so? If the former, fair enough. If the latter, you might want to rethink the approach - refusing th…

That is an argument for voluntarily joining the most despicable of organisations with the goal of fixing them from the inside. That is foolish.

Re: Palantir and Prism: A Possible Link

#22

Post by Anderkent »

sheri wrote: post #12
Anderkent wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Also the reason why I've ignored every contact from a Palantir recruiter so far. This smells like working for the white collar, air-conditioned, catered-lunch version of Blackwater. Is this because you would not like to work at a company handling such data, or because you think you are making a difference by not doing so? If the former, fair enough. If the latter, you might want to rethink the approach - refusing th…

> refusing the job only means someone else will take it, Isn't that true for almost any moral stance? Should I stop being a vegetarian because someone else will eat the meat anyway?

>Isn't that true for almost any moral stance?

That part on its own is not enough. Only when: 1. someone else will do AND 2. it would be better for you to be doing than someone who takes it up then you should take it instead of them.

Re: Palantir and Prism: A Possible Link

#23

Post by joezydeco »

nimish wrote: post #19
potatolicious wrote: post #2

Not really a surprise. Palantir has always been secretive about what exactly it is they do every day, though it's always been implied and rumored that a large part is government intelligence work. Also the reason why I've ignored every contact from a Palantir recruiter so far. This smells like working for the white collar, air-conditioned, catered-lunch version of Blackwater.

They're pretty upfront with the fact that a major portion of their business is from the US government, especially intelligence analysts. The other chunk is financial (hedge funds and the like as well as banks looking for fraud). Not that it excuses any of it but they really don't try to hide it.

It seems a quick run through the open positions at Palantir can tell you a lot more...

http://www.palantir.com/careers/OpenPositionLanding

   "Embedded Analyst, Government: Canberra"
   "Embedded Analyst, Government: London"
   "Embedded Analyst, Government: New Zealand"
   "Engineer, Developer Support Team (McLean, VA)"
   "Forward Deployed Engineer: Singapore"
   "Forward Deployed Software Engineer, Government: Berlin"
   "Forward Deployed Software Engineer: Denmark"
   "Forward Deployed Software Engineer: Finland"
   "Forward Deployed Software Engineer: Norway"
   "Forward Deployed Software Engineer: Stockholm"

Re: Palantir and Prism: A Possible Link

#24

Post by thedufer »

Anderkent wrote: post #7
potatolicious wrote: post #2

Not really a surprise. Palantir has always been secretive about what exactly it is they do every day, though it's always been implied and rumored that a large part is government intelligence work. Also the reason why I've ignored every contact from a Palantir recruiter so far. This smells like working for the white collar, air-conditioned, catered-lunch version of Blackwater.

>Also the reason why I've ignored every contact from a Palantir recruiter so far. This smells like working for the white collar, air-conditioned, catered-lunch version of Blackwater. Is this because you would not like to work at a company handling such data, or because you think you are making a difference by not doing so? If the former, fair enough. If the latter, you might want to rethink the approach - refusing th…

From the recruiting efforts I've seen, I would be surprised if they aren't just hiring everyone who meets their criteria. Which would make your argument that "refusing the job only means someone else will take it" not a very good one.

Re: Palantir and Prism: A Possible Link

#25

Post by Anderkent »

runjake wrote: post #13
Anderkent wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Also the reason why I've ignored every contact from a Palantir recruiter so far. This smells like working for the white collar, air-conditioned, catered-lunch version of Blackwater. Is this because you would not like to work at a company handling such data, or because you think you are making a difference by not doing so? If the former, fair enough. If the latter, you might want to rethink the approach - refusing th…

I think you need to rethink your argument. As far as i can tell, you're essentially saying "Take this job that's against your ethics or somebody else will".

No, I'm saying "Take this job that is against your ethics and do the best thing you can, because otherwise someone who is not concerned about this job being unethical will take it, and do much more damage than you will".

Re: Palantir and Prism: A Possible Link

#26

Post by lallysingh »

mraj wrote: post #3
potatolicious wrote: post #2

Not really a surprise. Palantir has always been secretive about what exactly it is they do every day, though it's always been implied and rumored that a large part is government intelligence work. Also the reason why I've ignored every contact from a Palantir recruiter so far. This smells like working for the white collar, air-conditioned, catered-lunch version of Blackwater.

I agree with your point here. I wont be surprised if Palantir is associated with PRISM.

Palantir Rakes In Stupendous Money?

Re: Palantir and Prism: A Possible Link

#27

Post by tpowell »

jmngomes wrote: post #18

Hmmm, that makes it clearer why their CEO is at Bildeberg this year ( http://news.rapgenius.com/The-bilderberg-group-list-of-atten... ). I once had a startup project (shot down by internal "concerns") to spin-off an intelligence software for social network exploration & analysis that I build at the company I worked for, I remember browsing through Palantir's portfolio and thinking they had quite the arsenal for surve…

I haven't seen this interview with him on Charlie Rose yet:

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10549

Re: Palantir and Prism: A Possible Link

#28

Post by gohrt »

jbooth wrote: post #15
Anderkent wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Also the reason why I've ignored every contact from a Palantir recruiter so far. This smells like working for the white collar, air-conditioned, catered-lunch version of Blackwater. Is this because you would not like to work at a company handling such data, or because you think you are making a difference by not doing so? If the former, fair enough. If the latter, you might want to rethink the approach - refusing th…

If some number of people refuse those jobs, then their pool of potential workers is smaller, meaning they have to either pay more or settle for worse engineers. At least it's something.

Paying more may just mean they charge taxpayers more.

Re: Palantir and Prism: A Possible Link

#29

Post by gohrt »

randomfool wrote: post #16
welp wrote: post #8

While links are never impossible, I am ever optimistic and hope that their employees actually do watch out for the red flags they just spoke about on their blog two months ago. "Every Palantirian is trained to look out for “red flags” at deployments that might indicate activities that are antithetical to our commitment to privacy and civil liberties." http://www.palantir.com/2013/04/dont-just-trust-us&#x2F ;

And are the employees told to report these red flags directly to independent third-parties for investigation? It's an easy thing to say but I'm extremely skeptical about it in practice. For instance, red flag- government is scaling up for 1000x the capacity that lawful warrants would generate. You report this, but who at Palantir would take action?

No they report them to their manager ... on the way to their exit interview.

Re: Palantir and Prism: A Possible Link

#30

Post by Anderkent »

lucian1900 wrote: post #21
Anderkent wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Also the reason why I've ignored every contact from a Palantir recruiter so far. This smells like working for the white collar, air-conditioned, catered-lunch version of Blackwater. Is this because you would not like to work at a company handling such data, or because you think you are making a difference by not doing so? If the former, fair enough. If the latter, you might want to rethink the approach - refusing th…

That is an argument for voluntarily joining the most despicable of organisations with the goal of fixing them from the inside. That is foolish.

>That is an argument for voluntarily joining the most despicable of organisations with the goal of fixing them from the inside.

More 'damage control' than 'fixing them', but sure, close enough. The point is, do not compare 'this job is evil, I produce -10 units of global utility' and then 'this job is good, I produce +20 units of global utility' looking only at your output. Instead, compare 'By taking this job, I will produce -10 units of global utility, instead of someone else producing -50', in which case the gain from you taking the job is +40.

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