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MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

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Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#301

Post by rjmunro »

iinnPP wrote: post #107
qweiopqweiop wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure they hold sensitive data themselves though? My understanding was they integrate their tools with customers own data and don't have access to it themselves (at least in theory). Of course I agree that quote is insane and you can dislike them for political reasons, but I want to understand the technological fears and see if any are unfounded.

Part of the core offering is data washing.

What does that mean?

What are they actually doing for the MoD? Are they reading MoD data out and processing it elsewhere?

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#302

Post by roryirvine »

happymellon wrote: post #283
IshKebab wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say that as if a "serious" country would have a better solution. Which countries are "serious" in your view?

In my opinion (not OP), a serious country would look at it's basic national security risks, and work to minimise them. I'm not talking terrorism, far more basic than that. Food, Energy, Transport Communications, Manufacturing. Are you either able to be the provider of any of these if it really came down to it, or are you dependent on a single outside source? Most countries will be unable to fulfill all of these, but…

That's not really true. The UK has run an open economy for almost 200 years and has long had one of the most diverse sets of trading arrangements of any country in the world.

For domestic energy, it has never relied on Russia. Natural gas supplies are a roughly equal mix of domestic production, Norwegian pipeline imports, and LNG imports (primarily from the USA, but with no restriction on switching to other providers if needed). Yes, there was a spike in global LNG prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine but that was driven by other countries seeking to replace Russian imports.

The same goes for the other areas you mentioned - food, transport, communications, and manufacturing. All have vast diversity of supply, with robust supply chains. None of them are remotely close to being dependent on a single external source.

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#303

Post by Steltek »

Cpoll wrote: post #214
A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Palantir isn't a good name. It's a disastrously bad one, if you ask me. It's a constant scandal as every five minutes somebody gets the bright idea that "ackshually the Palantir were a tool for evil made by a demon!!" They're never able to live it down. It always comes up. And it makes them seem, in a way, careless.

Ackshually the Palantir were made by the Elves of Valinor, and weren't made as a tool for evil. In fact, there's a very interesting theme there: The Palantir are only as useful as their users are wise. The power to see is disastrous if you don't know where to look and how to interpret what you see. If they named it with that in mind, I'd say it's a very thoughtful name, and a prescient caution. But I doubt it.

It was a powerful tool made for good but trivially corrupted to serve evil. It's a perfect description of the real world thing, IMO.

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#304

Post by alephnerd »

frm88 wrote: post #292
alephnerd wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if the Chinese support for Russia can be broken, by economical incentive... China is not interested in breaking with Russia. Russia helps China put pressure on Japan [0], helps China put pressure on South Korea [1], allows China to expand it's influence in Central Asia [2], acts as a backchannel for China-India diplomatic normalization [3], gives China the ability to access ONG without dealing with Hormuz or Malacc…

What threat can the EU give to China? Chinese foreign policy already views the EU as sanctimonious [14], weak [15], and declining [16]. 15 is an opinion piece written by a failed politician from Kyrgyzstan for China Daily and 16 is another opinion piece written by a right-wing politician from Slovakia. Neither represent Chinese opinions. 14 doesn't open for me.

The message matters less than the messenger - China Daily is the English language newspaper of the CCP's Propaganda Department and the Global Times is the English language newspaper of the CCP's Central Committee.

The fact that the mouthpieces of two of the CCP's most important committees are constantly publishing content that is dismissive of the EU highlights how China's leadership actually views Europe.

Europeans really need to get it in their head that both the US and China look at the EU dismissively and as a junior partner. Neither the US nor China is interested in a relationship of equals with the EU.

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#305

Post by rsynnott »

jjgreen wrote: post #297
rsynnott wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, it was 100% marketing. It's not just fascists, either; totalitarian regimes _in general_ tend to be very keen on this sort of thing.

Not always https://www.indy100.com/politics/rain-epler-haircut-estonia-...

They're usually not good at hair, for whatever reason. There's Hitler, of course, but also look at just about any American far-right figure these days for some _truly_ unhinged facial hair.

Offhand, the only totalitarian I can think of who seemed to put in a particular effort on hair is Stalin. But in general, stylish clothes, mad hair seems to be the rule.

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#306

Post by palmotea »

Alive-in-2025 wrote: post #286
infinitewars wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now with Golden Dome, Palantir is a global security threat not just a national one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Dome_(missile_defense_s...

golden dome seems less useful by the day now that drones are the new unstoppable weapon of choice

> golden dome seems less useful by the day now that drones are the new unstoppable weapon of choice

Your thinking is too black-and-white. The emergence of a new technology (drones) does not necessarily make previous technologies (ballistic missiles) obsolete or a non-threat.

What it means is the effective defensive system will need to be bigger and more capable.

And, IIRC, the ballistic missiles are still the more effective weapon in Ukraine and Iran. Long-range drones are easier to intercept cheaper interception technologies are catching up with them: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/10/what-are-the-ukrain....

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#307

Post by [deleted] »

roryirvine wrote: post #302
happymellon wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my opinion (not OP), a serious country would look at it's basic national security risks, and work to minimise them. I'm not talking terrorism, far more basic than that. Food, Energy, Transport Communications, Manufacturing. Are you either able to be the provider of any of these if it really came down to it, or are you dependent on a single outside source? Most countries will be unable to fulfill all of these, but…

That's not really true. The UK has run an open economy for almost 200 years and has long had one of the most diverse sets of trading arrangements of any country in the world. For domestic energy, it has never relied on Russia. Natural gas supplies are a roughly equal mix of domestic production, Norwegian pipeline imports, and LNG imports (primarily from the USA, but with no restriction on switching to other providers…

[deleted]

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#308

Post by Zigurd »

sschueller wrote: post #293
gjm11 wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there may be a bit less to that one than meets the eye. In Swiss law there's some kind of right-of-reply thing where if someone puts something about you in print and you think it's wrong you may be entitled to have some sort of response printed. And AIUI the way this works is that you go before a court and say "we want our response printed, please", and that's what Palantir's done in this case. (Note 1: For a…

The goal of Palantir is clear here. Bleed a small newspaper of its finances using bullshit claims. Also important to note that a Palantir exec sits on the board of Ringier (aka Blick) one of the two large media conglomerates in Switzerland.

What would the founders of Palantir know about bankrupting small journalistic ventures?

Oh.

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#309

Post by infinitewars »

palmotea wrote: post #306
Alive-in-2025 wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

golden dome seems less useful by the day now that drones are the new unstoppable weapon of choice

> golden dome seems less useful by the day now that drones are the new unstoppable weapon of choice Your thinking is too black-and-white. The emergence of a new technology (drones) does not necessarily make previous technologies (ballistic missiles) obsolete or a non-threat. What it means is the effective defensive system will need to be bigger and more capable. And, IIRC, the ballistic missiles are still the more ef…

Drones absolutely make Golden Dome obsolete if they can deliver a nuclear warhead and the purpose of Golden Dome is to win a nuclear war / be impervious to one.

Nuclear war is the justification given for violating all fiscal responsibility with this multi-million dollar taxpayer program.

Re: MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security

#310

Post by palmotea »

infinitewars wrote: post #309
palmotea wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> golden dome seems less useful by the day now that drones are the new unstoppable weapon of choice Your thinking is too black-and-white. The emergence of a new technology (drones) does not necessarily make previous technologies (ballistic missiles) obsolete or a non-threat. What it means is the effective defensive system will need to be bigger and more capable. And, IIRC, the ballistic missiles are still the more ef…

Drones absolutely make Golden Dome obsolete if they can deliver a nuclear warhead and the purpose of Golden Dome is to win a nuclear war / be impervious to one. Nuclear war is the justification given for violating all fiscal responsibility with this multi-million dollar taxpayer program.

> Drones absolutely make Golden Dome obsolete if they can deliver a nuclear warhead and the purpose of Golden Dome is to win a nuclear war / be impervious to one.

No they don't, because you can still deliver a warhead with an ICBM. It just means you need the ABM system and and anti-drone system for it to be complete.

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