Palantir was created in 2001 by the CIA by Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, Stephen Cohen, Joe Lonsdale, and Nathan Gettings.
It’s an AI/algorithm that interprets data given by intelligence communities. Things such as emails, phone calls, and texts are recorded and given to Palantir.
Palantir then interprets this data into reports that are useful to law enforcement.
They’ve used this information to find people such as Osama bin Laden, and uncovering suicide bombers in Iraq.
After 9/11, they took it out as a CIA program and effectively privatized it into its own company to, allegedly, bypass the Constitution.
After 9/11, to remove public oversight, they privatized it. Up until 2008, they only worked exclusively for the CIA as “contractors”. The CIA actually provided them with their startup fund through their venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel, and created all the products in the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
Palantir also helped identify the January 6th Capital rioters, and unvaccinated people in 2021. Palantir has also faced massive criticism. Critiques of the firm generally focus on its ethical implications regarding privacy, its close ties to controversial government actions, and its corporate culture.
“I think a lot of the things they come up with sound almost like the book 1984 to be honest. I don’t think anybody wants to be spied on, as long as there’s no suspicion of foul play,” Cooper Allen said.
After Trump’s election, Trump tasked Palantir with creating a “super database” of personal information, enabling high-level government surveillance. Critics, including former employees, allege that the technology facilitates the infringement of civil liberties and due process, with some calling the company’s tools a “surveillance tool”.
“I think that could be very dangerous and a fine line to strike in terms of violating our rights, especially being able to differentiate between kids saying dumb things on their phones and actual criminals,” Colleen Hall said.
Something that can be heavily debated is the normalization of using AI for gathering information and data against citizens and using lethal technologies in conflicts. Reports have linked Palantir’s AI technology to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), with concerns that the software has been used in operations causing significant civilian casualties in Gaza in the Israel-Gaza Conflict.
So, can it be considered a necessary sacrifice for justice, or is it the start of something that has been warned about in the media for decades? Especially with the current generation, where more and more of our information and necessities are online, can that be used against us?
National Security, or Invasion of Rights?
