‘ELITE’: The Palantir app ICE uses to find neighborhoods to raid

Post by miltonlost » Thu, Jan 15, 2026, 7:53 PM UTC

pfortuny wrote: post #70

phoehne wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In another comment, I referenced Eichmann. A train is not a good thing or a bad thing. A rail car is not a good thing or a bad thing. Having an app that aggregates multiple different data sources and puts them together is not a good thing or a bad thing. It's the morality behind the hands into which we put that tools that matters. The more capable the tool, the more good or evil you can do with it. Maybe we should as…

Mmmmhhhhhh it depends on what the engineer knows about the realistic uses of the tool. As a sibling comments, fixing the railroads to Auswichz might me morally wrong. Eichmann knew what he was doing and, in any case, forcing dozens of thousands of people to move with less than a week's notice does not soynd quite "amoral".

Post by vscode-rest » Thu, Jan 15, 2026, 7:56 PM UTC

commandlinefan wrote: post #81

bri3d wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my understanding of Palantir too: it's a consultancy with a map, a graph database, and some "AI" nonsense. They sell expensive "forward deployed engineers" (aka, consultants) to customize this map and graph database to specific use cases. I'm not trying to argue Palantir is an ethical company; my views on "company ethics" are nuanced but I wouldn't put them anywhere near my "places I want to work" bucket. But…

> expensive "forward deployed engineers" (aka, consultants) Well, at least they're paying those consultants a lot of money, since they're charging a lot for them... right? Right?

Post by jeron » Thu, Jan 15, 2026, 7:57 PM UTC

pixelready wrote: post #12

I’ve never worked at Palantir, but once you get past the noisy leadership’s villain virtue signaling, every report I’ve read about the platform itself gives me strong “typical enterprise vendor” vibes. A lackluster software offering that is overhyped to institutional purchasers, then shoved down frontline employees’ throats because the vendor is good at navigating the sales and compliance labyrinth to secure deals. T…

Post by vscode-rest » Thu, Jan 15, 2026, 7:57 PM UTC

bri3d wrote: post #83

genidoi wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Referring to engineers with top secret+ security clearances as "consultants" seems reductionistic.

In what way? I'm genuinely curious; I would describe an engineer who is provided to build a customer product alongside a customer as either a "contractor" or a "consultant," depending mostly on their employer. A security clearance just changes what customers and products they work for.

Post by sndkdkldl » Thu, Jan 15, 2026, 7:58 PM UTC

michaelmrose wrote: post #72

casey2 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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