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374

Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans (www.nytimes.com)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/65405816

In March, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies, raising questions over whether he might compile a master list of personal information on Americans that could give him untold surveillance power.

Some current and former Palantir employees have been unnerved by the work. The company risks becoming the face of Mr. Trump’s political agenda, four employees said, and could be vulnerable if data on Americans is breached or hacked. Several tried to distance the company from the efforts, saying any decisions about a merged database of personal information rest with Mr. Trump and not the firm.

This month, 13 former employees signed a letter urging Palantir to stop its endeavors with Mr. Trump. Linda Xia, a signee who was a Palantir engineer until last year, said the problem was not with the company’s technology but with how the Trump administration intended to use it.

"Data that is collected for one reason should not be repurposed for other uses,” Ms. Xia said. “Combining all that data, even with the noblest of intentions, significantly increases the risk of misuse.”

The goal of uniting data on Americans has been quietly discussed by Palantir engineers, employees said, adding that they were worried about collecting so much sensitive information in one place. The company’s security practices are only as good as the people using them, they said. They characterized some DOGE employees as sloppy on security, such as not following protocols in how personal devices were used.

Ms. Xia said Palantir employees were increasingly worried about reputational damage to the company because of its work with the Trump administration. There is growing debate within the company about its federal contracts, she said.

“Current employees are discussing the implications of their work and raising questions internally,” she said, adding that some employees have left after disagreements over the company’s work with the Trump administration.

all 34 comments

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago

Well if they're collating data, not that difficult to add a new table for gun ownership.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 3 days ago (1 children)

so much for "dems and deep state" arguments. Where are the opinions of Breibart Steve Bannon or other right wing commentators on this? Ben Shapiro?

Guess they're all a bunch of pussy. Too scare to say anything to upset their boss, the mighty Donald

[–] isVeryLoud 19 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Projection in action. Mostly everything they accuse the other side of, that are guilty of.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Nobody says it, but Trump literally stole the election. He did it by having his goons involved with every step of the process, scrutinizing workers until they quit, challenging confidence in the mail-in voting system, removing mail-in ballot boxes, reducing the number of voting stations, and of course the gerrymandering already in place. There’s probably more. It was a landslide victory for people who didn’t vote, and I think that had as much, if not more, to do with access than disinterest. Trump won by a narrow margin among those leftover. He would not have won otherwise.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

I would think he and RFK planned everything. The fact that RFK ran as a "3rd candidate" was just a facade. Remember how he spent months running ads, promoting himself as a much better candidate? It's all part of the show.

[–] [email protected] 70 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This is exactly what a President, an elected service worker sworn to protect the rights of the public, should be doing.

Not.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago

[–] [email protected] 38 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Did we learn nothing from Snowden? I promise you the government has had a dossier on every American for decades.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 days ago

Never as precise as what Peter Thiel & co harvested thru social networks and LLMs.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 3 days ago

Having used their software in the past, I'm personally quite uncomfortable with this technology being used to monitor American citizens.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago

So this is the guy who went on and on, and his supporters too, about the "deep state" and "draining the swamp". Little did everyone know but he was talking about his plans to create it.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 days ago (2 children)

He's going to imprison US Citizens next.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 3 days ago

Next? That's already begun

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 days ago

Journalists that are critical and environmentalists first. Then harass anybody with left leanings, make a few examples out of them. The usual authoritarian stuff. It'll get worse once there are false flag operations.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I’m deleting all social media I still have. Might even consider dumping my Lemmy too.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Honestly, a lot of our content, especially the posts calling for mass murder of Republican voters (most of which appear to still be up) might make traceable prior use of lemmy an easy way to get added to a watchlist.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

While true it’s also not all that useful. If a handful of people express that, it’s actionable. If huge swaths of your population do, it means something else entirely.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

For sure. I’m just pointing it out so Americans on here are eyes-open in their participation. They’re likely already on a list.

But also, I don’t think killing pedestrian voters is of any strategic benefit. I report it when I see it, even if it’s rarely taken down.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I know I’m likely on a list somewhere. I firmly believe I’m going to be killed by this sundowning Nazi in the next few years too. I’ve tried to make plans and get out of this sinking ship but I’ve not been successful. I’m going to die here and it’s likely to happen pretty soon.

So if that’s going to happen anyway, where is my motivation to comply with anything this fascist wants? Fuck it. He’s going to have to kill me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

yeah I'm gay and am on the autism spectrum, between that and being a leftist "parasite" (food stamp recipient), I've largely resigned myself to my fate as well. But I'm not going to fucking El Salvador or any other memory hole he shoves people into. I'd rather die on my front lawn.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Same here. Some of my friends are already planning to die, buying guns and hoping to take down an agent with them. I won’t buy a gun because I’m afraid I’ll actually use it, possibly on myself.

These are incredibly dark times.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I've always liked guns (some of the mechanics at play in some are fascinating, the wackier ones are like a rube goldberg machine inside), never wanted one in the house because of depression. now, it's looking like eating a 12 gauge sandwich is, in fact, probably going to be the better way out, eventually. I'm trying to put it off as long as possible until my choices are "get a gun now or you won't be able to later, at all".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I feel similar. I used to be more into guns and hunting when I was younger but left them in my parents’ gun safe because I can’t trust myself with having one in the house due to depression. Thankfully I’ve never been clinically diagnosed with anything so RFK can’t put me on a medical list at least. If the fascist start to really go crazy by arresting literally anyone who opposes them at all, then I’m taking them out of the safe and will be ready for anything.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Of course. I then expect the data to be released, misuesd, etc, etc. I'm just going to expect it now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

That CEO needs the Luigi treatment.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

remember THiels boytoy last year followed the same fate as russians, fell off a multistory building in florida. the news was barely made news because of trump, and it hurts thiels "image"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

LoL, I thought they're talking about the crystal balls in LOTR.

[+] [email protected] -7 points 3 days ago (5 children)

On one hand, I absolutely abhor governmental blanket data collection and the storage of this data. Both from a personal privacy, independence and freedom point of view, and from a “you know they’ll just leak the data and then everyone will have it” standpoint.

On the flip side:

In March, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies

Any sane company or government would have already done this… not sharing data between agencies/silos is leads to inaccuracies, duplication of data and work (wasted time/money), additional complexity in data storage and gathering, plus it provides multiple attack surfaces for data breaches.

Also, I read that as “if one agency needs something they can ask the other one for it” which has likely been happening for centuries at this point and this is just another “Trump said we need to do what’s already happening so he can look smart and like he’s doing something besides golfing and accepting foreign bribes”.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 days ago

They say sharing so it’s solely duplicating data everywhere, effectively increasing the attack surface…

And this would violate my favourite GDPR principle ; purpose based consent. I give my data to the healthcare body for handle reimbursement and I like it that way. No need for them to share that data with anyone else. Same for the tax guy: let him scrutinise the shit outa my incomes but that’s it, don’t share it with the fucking police or whoever else.

But yeah… this is a difficult topic even in a sane country. We’re talking USA here…

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I mean this is why you have different security clearances. Nobody working in the social security administration should have full access to my speeding tickets from 20 years ago, or find out if I was on Medicaid at some point in my life with a single click.

This is very different than making a formal documented request. It enables people to discriminate on information that they shouldn't know in the first place, and keeps anyone from holding them accountable for it.

Not to mention, if it's used the way other people have used it, it allows the government to discriminate against other people for just having a loose connection to somebody else.

Oh you grew up poor? Your parents were divorced? The algorithm has determined that makes you high risk, now those things that weren't even in your control will influence everything you do for the rest of your life.

Data is Destiny

[–] floofloof 12 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Any sane company or government would have already done this

Only if they had no concern for people's privacy, and no notion of compartmentalizing access to the data to prevent abuse and limit the impact of leaks. It's far from obvious that "just share everything" is a good policy.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

If it wasn't Trump I'd agree. However, getting Palantir involved sounds less like unifying databases than creating a social credit score-kind of system, complete with political opinions and other kinds of sensitive data

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

I think you're right that this leads to increased efficiency. But in the case of the United States, we're relying on a bit of inefficiency here to maintain freedom. I would suggest that there's no difference between a dictatorship and an all-seeing government. Restricting the government is important in a free country, and making data on citizens difficult access is one of those restrictions we've been using.