{"id":30742,"date":"2020-10-27T06:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T04:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=30742"},"modified":"2025-08-27T23:49:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T20:49:16","slug":"how-palantir-works-a-company-arming-the-security-services-with-mass-surveillance-algorithms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/how-palantir-works-a-company-arming-the-security-services-with-mass-surveillance-algorithms\/","title":{"rendered":"How Palantir Works: A Company Arming the Security Services with Mass-Surveillance Algorithms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the most enigmatic companies of our era. A secret software developer for the security services. A firm that knows everything about you. This is how various media described the American software company Palantir Technologies, which works with data analytics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its clients include the army, police, intelligence services, banks, and, more recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which tasked Palantir with building a platform to fight the coronavirus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What has earned the company the ire of human rights advocates, what services it provides to American law enforcement, how the PayPal hack by a Russian hacker influenced its creation, and why it is accused of facilitating immigrant tracking \u2014 ForkLog examines.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-text-wrappers-keypoints article_keypoints\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Palantir sells its products to a wide range of customers, but its main clients are the intelligence services and government agencies.<\/li>\n<li>Palantir&#8217;s software allows correlating data from multiple sources, identifying relationships between them and visualising them in the form of various diagrams.<\/li>\n<li>Human rights advocates say that Palantir&#8217;s cooperation with certain American government agencies may violate human rights.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Founded in 2003 Palantir <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/what-palantir-name-means-lord-of-the-rings-peter-thiel-2020-7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u043f\u043e\u043b\u0443\u0447\u0438\u043b\u0430<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> its name from the Palant\u00edr stones in Tolkien&#8217;s legendarium. With them one could see what was happening elsewhere or what had happened.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Palantir is the brainchild of well-known entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel, so the Tolkien reference is not surprising. He frequently draws inspiration from the Tolkien universe\u2014at least <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/bizjournals\/news\/2015\/04\/16\/peter-thiel-has-founded-at-least-five-lord-of-the.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">five companies<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, co-founded by Thiel, borrow their names from Tolkien&#8217;s works.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thiel <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/paypal-mafia-members-careers-elon-musk-peter-thiel-reid-hoffman-2019-11#the-so-called-don-of-the-paypal-mafia-is-founder-peter-thiel-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u0438\u0437\u0432\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0435\u043d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as the \u201cdon of the PayPal mafia.\u201d It was during his time at PayPal that the idea for Palantir was born. And this was aided by a Russian hacker.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his book \u201cZero to One: How to Create a Startup That Will Change the Future\u201d Thiel described the problem PayPal faced in the mid-2000s \u2014 the company could not track a large number of transfers and, due to card fraud, was losing more than $10 million a month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The automatically designed algorithm for tracking transactions initially did not work \u2014 fraudsters quickly adapted to it and changed tactics. Later PayPal rewrote the program using a hybrid approach \u2014 \u201cthe computer flagged the most suspicious transactions in the user interface, and human operators then made the final call on whether it was fraudulent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe named this hybrid system \u2018Igor\u2019 \u2014 after the Russian internet fraudster who boasted that we would never be able to beat him,\u201d \u2014 writes Thiel.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thanks to the new solution the first quarter of 2002 turned out to be PayPal&#8217;s first profitable quarter. The FBI took an interest and asked for permission to use \u201cIgor\u201d to uncover financial crimes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After selling PayPal, Thiel continued thinking about the solution and shared with his classmate Alex Karp the idea for a new startup \u2014 a synthesis of human and algorithmic data analysis to discover terrorist networks and financial fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This idea would later be realised in the creation of software that enables extracting maximum information from fragmented data sources. It would be named Palantir, and Karp would become CEO.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">***<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition to Karp, Thiel recruited former PayPal engineer Nathan Gettings and two Stanford graduates Joe Lonsdale and Stephen Cohen to create Palantir. They were to develop the algorithm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite FBI interest in the \u201cIgor\u201d solution, government agencies did not immediately pay attention to Palantir, which offered a similar algorithm with an easy-to-use interface.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Initially the development was funded entirely by Thiel himself. Alex Karp, tasked with finding funding, had little luck \u2014 dozens of investors rejected the startup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However Palantir soon attracted interest \u2014 the company received $2 million from the CIA&#8217;s venture arm In-Q-Tel.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cInvestments from In-Q-Tel gave Palantir something more important than money: the CIA\u2019s blessing. When doors in Washington began to open, Palantir started drawing supporters from intelligence and national security organizations,\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/2020\/09\/inside-palantir-technologies-peter-thiel-alex-karp.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Intelligencer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Subsequently Palantir counted among its clients various government services, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the NSA, the United States Air Force, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among Palantir\u2019s clients was the Los Angeles Police Department.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aJ-u7yDwC6g\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sociology professor Sarah Brayne of the University of Texas at Austin spent more than two years studying how Los Angeles police officers use the system. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2017\/09\/11\/technology\/future\/lapd-big-data-palantir\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Results<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of her research not only shed light on how Palantir really works, but also raised concerns about the consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Palantir database contained standard information about citizens \u2014 names, gender, place of education and the like. Additional information came into the system from government agencies, for example the U.S. Department of Transportation. It was also augmented with data purchased from private companies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not only offenders entered the system, but also their contact people. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI would warn against the notion that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. This logic rests on the assumption that information is entered into the system without errors or bias,\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/carolinehaskins1\/training-documents-palantir-lapd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BuzzFeed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Palantir\u2019s software scans various data sources \u2014 financial documents, flight-booking information, mobile phone data, social media messages \u2014 and looks for connections that analysts might miss, Bloomberg reports. It then presents the discovered connections in an easy-to-interpret graph that looks like a web.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Journalists <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/9kx4z8\/revealed-this-is-palantirs-top-secret-user-manual-for-cops\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">studied<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the user manual for the Palantir Gotham application used by law enforcement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to it, police could obtain extensive information about a person with relatively little data about them \u2014 for instance, knowing only a name or a license plate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some data sources \u2014 such as marriage, divorce, birth, and business activity \u2014 also included information about other people connected to the individual. Brayne called this a secondary surveillance network.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen police take an interest in someone, they do not simply collect phone numbers, business relationships, travel histories of the suspect and the like. They also collect information about people connected to him,\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/9kx4z8\/revealed-this-is-palantirs-top-secret-user-manual-for-cops\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vice<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-114395\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"226\" src=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1-101-300x226.jpg\" alt=\"How Palantir Works: A Company Arming the Security Services with Mass-Surveillance Algorithms\" class=\"wp-image-114395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1-101-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1-101-768x579.jpg 768w, https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1-101.jpg 822w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption>Screenshots from the user guide. Data: Vice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A special tool allowed the police to filter, sort, visualise and export various data. Found connections are visualised using diagrams, histograms or timelines \u2014 the tool selects the best option based on the analysed data.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-114396\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"125\" src=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/zavantazhennya-1-300x125.png\" alt=\"How Palantir Works: A Company Arming the Security Services with Mass-Surveillance Algorithms\" class=\"wp-image-114396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/zavantazhennya-1-300x125.png 300w, https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/zavantazhennya-1-1024x428.png 1024w, https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/zavantazhennya-1-768x321.png 768w, https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/zavantazhennya-1.png 1199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption>An example visualization as a timeline. Data: Vice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When a person appeared in the system, a police officer could \u201csubscribe\u201d to them, Brayne\u2019s study of the Los Angeles Police Department\u2019s interactions with Palantir shows.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, an officer could receive a phone notification when the vehicle of the person of interest was in a \u201csuspicious\u201d area. This was achieved through integrating data from street surveillance cameras into the Palantir system.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWithout public oversight or regulation, Palantir helped the Los Angeles Police Department build an extensive database with names, addresses, phone numbers, license plate details \u2014 including information about friendships and romantic relationships \u2014 the guilty, the innocent, and those in between,\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/carolinehaskins1\/training-documents-palantir-lapd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BuzzFeed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another Palantir client was the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In 2014 it signed a $41 million contract with the firm to build and maintain a tracking system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Human rights advocates are convinced that Palantir played a key role in deporting undocumented migrants. The company, for its part, insisted that it did not work with ICE, which is responsible for detaining undocumented immigrants and deportations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet Palantir\u2019s assurances did not persuade human rights advocates. Amnesty International criticised the contracts with ICE and said Palantir \u201cdoes not meet its human rights obligations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a style=\"text-decoration: underline;\" title=\"View Palantir Briefing Report on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/481046733\/Palantir-Briefing-Report#from_embed\">Palantir Briefing Report<\/a> by <a style=\"text-decoration: underline;\" title=\"View ForkLog's profile on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/user\/456422024\/ForkLog#from_embed\">ForkLog<\/a> on Scribd<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"doc_35700\" class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" title=\"Palantir Briefing Report \" src=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/embeds\/481046733\/content?start_page=1&#038;view_mode=scroll&#038;access_key=key-hIHUfaQdtx9L4xvva7fe\" scrolling=\"no\" data-auto-height=\"false\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.7729220222793488\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Attention to Palantir\u2019s collaboration with ICE<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/artificial-intelligence\/2019\/08\/12\/study-trumps-paid-peter-thiels-palantir-1-5b-so-far-to-build-ices-mass-surveillance-network\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has been drawn<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to it due to Thiel\u2019s ties to U.S. President Donald Trump, who is known for his anti-immigrant rhetoric. Thiel is arguably the only Silicon Valley figure who openly supported Trump.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Karp, who in 2015 sharply criticized Trump, was seen at a meeting with him among the leaders of major tech companies shortly after the latter\u2019s election.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Palantir\u2019s work with ICE sparked internal discontent among company staff. Karp said that collaboration with authorities would continue.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote twitter-tweet is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u201cSilicon Valley is telling the average American \u2018I will not support your defense needs\u2019 while selling products to countries that are adversarial to America. That is a loser position.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Palantir (@PalantirTech) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PalantirTech\/status\/1151868595628122112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 18, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c\u041a\u0440\u0435\u043c\u043d\u0438\u0435\u0432\u0430\u044f \u0434\u043e\u043b\u0438\u043d\u0430 \u0433\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0442 \u0440\u044f\u0434\u043e\u0432\u043e\u043c\u0443 \u0430\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u043d\u0446\u0443: \u00ab\u042f \u043d\u0435 \u0441\u043e\u0431\u0438\u0440\u0430\u044e\u0441\u044c \u043f\u043e\u0434\u0434\u0435\u0440\u0436\u0438\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c \u0442\u0432\u043e\u044e \u043f\u043e\u0442\u0440\u0435\u0431\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u044c \u0432 \u043e\u0431\u043e\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0435\u00bb, \u0432 \u0442\u043e \u0432\u0440\u0435\u043c\u044f, \u043a\u0430\u043a \u0441\u0430\u043c\u0430 \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0434\u0430\u0451\u0442 \u0440\u0430\u0437\u0440\u0430\u0431\u043e\u0442\u043a\u0438 \u0432\u0440\u0430\u0436\u0434\u0435\u0431\u043d\u044b\u043c \u0410\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0435 \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0430\u043c. \u042d\u0442\u043e \u043f\u043e\u0437\u0438\u0446\u0438\u044f \u043b\u0443\u0437\u0435\u0440\u043e\u0432,\u201d<\/span> \u2014 \u0437\u0430\u044f\u0432\u043b\u044f\u0435\u0442 \u041a\u0430\u0440\u043f.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This patriotism is hardly the cornerstone of Palantir. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/Archives\/edgar\/data\/1321655\/000119312520230013\/d904406ds1.htm#rom904406_15\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the documents<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> submitted for its IPO, it states that it \u201cdoes not work with clients or governments whose positions or actions are incompatible with the mission to support Western liberal democracy and its strategic allies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fact that the company\u2019s main clients are primarily law-enforcement and US security agencies fully reflects its devotion to this mission.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Bloomberg noted, according to some sources, Palantir\u2019s system even helped eliminate Osama bin Laden. The company neither confirms nor denies these rumors. In his book, Thiel merely stated that he \u201ccannot talk about that operation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He noted that with Palantir-created software, analysts were able to predict where Afghan insurgents planned to carry out attacks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the same time Palantir is trying to reduce its dependence on government contracts and broaden its client base. Commercial clients work with Palantir Foundry \u2014 a platform for data integration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the company\u2019s first corporate clients was the financial holding JPMorgan. But initially this collaboration was clouded by a scandal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2009 Palantir specialists worked with a JPMorgan group tasked with detecting insider threats, Bloomberg reports.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Palantir software analysed emails, browser histories, decryptions of phone conversations, identifying keywords and patterns in bank employee behaviour.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, Palantir\u2019s algorithm warned the JPMorgan insider-threat team when a employee began arriving at work later than usual, a sign of potential discontent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Employees were shocked that \u201cneither the bank nor Palantir had put any restrictions,\u201d as the publication notes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This story ended with top bank managers learning that they were being watched too.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cA platform built to fight terrorists was used against ordinary Americans,\u201d<\/span> \u2014 Bloomberg summarizes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To meet privacy and security obligations, Palantir catalogs and tags user data \u2014 all its actions are documented.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The company also seeks to adhere to certain \u201cethical norms\u201d \u2014 for employees Palantir has created a hotline called Batphone for ethics questions. It allows staff to anonymously report work for clients they consider unethical.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The hotline emerged after the WikiLeaks scandal. In 2011 it emerged that one employee discussed in emails the possibility of tracking WikiLeaks informants to prevent disclosure of documents from Bank of America.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Karp issued public apologies and stated that Palantir supports the right to free speech and the right to privacy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Karp himself believes the company can balance privacy with security.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI did not sign up for the government to know when I smoke a joint or who I am dating,\u201d<\/span> \u2014 Forbes quotes Karp.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his letter to the SEC, Karp virtually directly accused Silicon Valley companies such as Facebook and Google of selling personal data and intruding on private life.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSoftware projects with defence and intelligence agencies of our country, whose tasks involve ensuring our security, have become controversial, while ad-supported companies have become commonplace,\u201d<\/span> \u2014 writes Karp.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He noted that the Silicon Valley engineering elite may know more about building software than anyone else, but \u201cdoes not know more about how society should be organised or what justice requires.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet Intelligencer notes that his argument ignores the fact that Palantir was used to analyse data from social networks, including Facebook posts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">***<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2020 Palantir carried out a direct listing of its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote twitter-tweet is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We\u2019re excited for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PalantirTech?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PalantirTech<\/a> to list on the NYSE today. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cz91Acipwt\">pic.twitter.com\/cz91Acipwt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NYSE ? (@NYSE) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NYSE\/status\/1311334994091094016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the SEC documents, in the first half of 2020 the company had 125 clients. Palantir\u2019s revenue for that period reached $481.2 million.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Documents also show that revenue from government contracts rose by 76%, while from commercial contracts \u2014 only by 27%. Combined since June 2019 it rose by nearly half.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-114399\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"61\" src=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot_221-300x61.png\" alt=\"How Palantir Works: A Company Arming the Security Services with Mass-Surveillance Algorithms\" class=\"wp-image-114399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot_221-300x61.png 300w, https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot_221-1024x210.png 1024w, https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot_221-768x157.png 768w, https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot_221.png 1337w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption>Data from Palantir documents submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the same time Palantir has reported losses every year since its founding, the company itself notes in its risk section. A large portion of revenue comes from a small number of clients.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition, as Bloomberg Businessweek reports, investors will hardly be able to influence management decisions, as \u201cPalantir was designed so that Thiel, Karp and co-founder Stephen Cohen control half of the voting shares through a trust for eternity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The publication notes that the company can afford this partly because its software is \u201calmost perfectly suited for solving problems related to the coronavirus pandemic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the end of April the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), responsible for the pandemic response in the United States, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2020\/05\/20\/palantir-covid-19-va-contract\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">signed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a contract with Palantir for $25 million. The company is to oversee the operation of the HHS Protect platform for data collection and analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe deal was among more than a hundred Palantir signed in the early days of the pandemic \u2014 83 of them in March through early April \u2014 and it is one of the reasons for the improvement in the company\u2019s financials this year,\u201d<\/span> \u2014 noted Bloomberg Businessweek.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the wake of this deal several members of Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/chc.house.gov\/sites\/congressionalhispaniccaucus.house.gov\/files\/6.25.20%20Letter%20CHC%20to%20HHS%20re%20HHS%20Protect%20FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">asked<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> what data HHS Protect would collect and how it would be used, recalling the ICE scandal.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe have concerns about how the existing Palantir system, used to track and arrest immigrants, will be augmented by health information arriving from HHS Protect,\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The deployment of large-scale citizen-tracking systems during the pandemic has deeply concerned human rights advocates, especially when the companies building such systems are closely tied to the authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back in 2011 Peter Thiel told Bloomberg that proponents of civil liberties should welcome Palantir\u2019s creation:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe cannot afford another 9\/11. That day opened the doors to all kinds of abuses and draconian policy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to him, the best way to avoid such scenarios in the future is to give the government access to advanced technologies and to ensure protection against their improper use.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet after a series of disclosures about government surveillance, the world seems unlikely to believe in the infallibility of security agencies or governments when it comes to intrusions into private life. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many years have passed since Edward Snowden\u2019s revelations, but surveillance systems continue to evolve and scale, as numerous studies attest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The aggregation of data collected by these systems into one database risks creating a tool that will literally know everything about you. But where would privacy stand in such a scenario?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Author: Alina Saganskaya.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to ForkLog news on Telegram: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/forklogfeed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">ForkLog Feed<\/a> \u2014 the full news stream, <a href=\"https:\/\/telegram.me\/forklog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">ForkLog<\/a> \u2014 the most important news and polls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most enigmatic companies of our era. A secret software developer for the security services. A firm that knows everything about you. This is how various media described the American software company Palantir Technologies, which works in data analytics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1144],"tags":[1999,1256,1515,26],"class_list":["post-30742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-longreads","tag-palantir","tag-privacy-and-personal-data","tag-tracking","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"134","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30744,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30742\/revisions\/30744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}