Palantir, a company that probably knows more about you than you’d like

Summary

Palantir, founded by Peter Thiel, is a controversial data analytics company known for its extensive collection of personal data on behalf of governments and agencies worldwide, raising significant privacy concerns.

Abstract

Palantir Technologies, co-founded by Peter Thiel in 2003, has become infamous for its vast accumulation of personal data, serving governments, immigration agencies, and police departments globally. Despite its extensive reach and significant contracts, the company has not turned a profit. Palantir's data mining operations have been criticized for their invasive nature and potential to infringe on individual privacy. The company's public offering in October 2020 revealed that over half of its revenue comes from government contracts. Palantir's involvement with the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked protests and legal challenges in the UK, questioning the ethics of its data practices and the lack of public consultation.

Opinions

Palantir is described as one of the most sinister companies in the world due to its data collection practices.
The company's activities are seen as unethical and embodying what is wrong with data science.
Palantir's collaboration with various entities, including the United Nations, has been viewed negatively, particularly concerning its impact on those being surveilled.
The company's financial performance is scrutinized, having never turned a profit despite substantial contracts.
Protests against Palantir's role in the NHS and its involvement in immigration policies and family separations in the U.S. reflect public concern over privacy and ethical data use.
The British government's decision to end its contract with Palantir due to lack of transparency is seen as a response to these concerns.

Palantir, a company that probably knows more about you than you’d like

The company, which embodies all that is wrong and unethical about data science, has never turned a profit, despite signing multi-million dollar contracts with all kinds of entities giving it access to citizens’ data, in what appears to be the largest attempt in history to create a global macro-database a private company. In October 2020, Palantir went public, finishing the day 31% above its reference price, and is currently valued at around $45 billion dollars. The IPO revealed a few more things about a company that has always tried to keep its activities top secret, including the fact that contracts with governments and government agencies (CIA, DoD, ICE, etc.) make up 53% of its turnover.

One of the company’s biggest clients is Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), thanks to a contract for which it charged only a symbolic pound, but that gives it growing involvement in the exploitation of pandemic and vaccination campaign data, which has led to the NHS being the subject of litigation. Now, some groups have organized a protest, “No Palantir in our NHS”, calling for its role to be cancelled, something that by now would probably serve little purpose. This is by no means the first protest the company has faced: at the end of 2019, after the scandal involving the company’s in expelling thousands of immigrants from the United States and the separation of children from their families, leading figures from the technology sector filled GitHub forums with messages aimed at its workers.

What happens when a government gives a company with a reputation like Palantir access the data it holds on its citizens without any consultation? How does this square with our right to privacy? How can we halt the erosion of privacy that this obviously entails, beyond protests, which governments tend to ignore? How much does a company like Palantir know about you, and what is it using that information for?

UPDATE (11/09/2021): The British government announces the end of its contract with Palantir alleging lack of transparence.

(En español, aquí)