Palintir Unleashed

We happily give the U.S. Government our private information. We fill out the forms without question. When we pay taxes, have a baby, apply for a drivers license, or collect social security, nobody worries about it -- our data is safe with the government. Unlike criminal hackers in China or Nigeria scamming us with fake emails promising a gazillion dollars if we just click a link, the U.S. Government doesn't use our data against us.

Or maybe you don't completely agree. Maybe you have questions.

For example: Why is the U.S. Government paying Palantir, a private software company, over $12 billion dollars across multiple agencies to leverage our private data?

The company would tell you it's only trying to help the government better use the data it has to improve the world. It's a version of the goal Palantir had when it was founded, over twenty years ago by Alex Carp, Peter Thiel and others in Palo Alto. Their business then was adapting algorithms that uncovered credit card fraud for use by the CIA and FBI to fight terrorism. Not as fun as launching an app that delivers tacos to your home, but you can't argue with fighting terrorism as a goal.

Palantir offered government agencies a tool to analyze huge datasets and find hidden links, connect dots. And ultimately, find terrorists and criminals. They pitched it as a way to do mass surveillance without surveilling anyone - they were just identifying illegal behavior through existing data streams.

Turns out, the idea of digging into private data of U.S. citizens has major appeal in President Donald Trump's White House.

The Department of Defense is paying Palantir nearly $10 billion dollars to connect the dots in the massive data stream from satellites, drones, sensors, logistics systems, maintenance records, and intelligence reports. Other customers include the IRS -- keepers of private data for every American, or at least the tax paying ones. Then there's the Center for Disease Control, and the Veterans Administration, also Palantir customers.

But the agency getting the most attention is in charge of immigration and customs enforcement, the one known as ICE. This group is a major customer for Palantir's investigative platforms, to the tune of hundreds of millions in spending. They've amassed millions of data points, including cel phone history, social media posts and tax information. The company is integrated into ICE's day-to-day data surveillance leading to deportations.

Hard to argue against catching criminals.

But Palantir's software tools allow something never before possible in the massive government database: it can cross-check across agencies.

Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the "consolidation" of these different data sources, resulting in a potential single source of information on Americans that the government has never had before -- and that even Republicans have historically opposed.

Merged data across all government agencies means the government can make connections as citizens hit various touch points with agencies through their life. The government could monitor citizens without physically watching them.

If it sounds like science fiction, or just too far fetched, it shouldn't. Because it's already happening within ICE, to catch undocumented immigrants and criminals. It's not hard to imagine this is just a test drive before the data tools are expanded to keep all citizens in line with government wishes.

In May of this year, 13 former Palantir employees signed a letter warning, "Palantir's leadership has abandoned its founding ideals" calling the use of Palantir's data tools an "escalating danger to Democracy." Former Palantir engineer Linda Xia said the biggest danger was in this combining of data across agencies: "Data that is collected for one reason should not be repurposed for other uses. Combining all that data, even with the noblest of intentions, significantly increases the risk of misuse."

What exactly are we talking about here?

Currently ICE can match state DMV databases against immigration files, but obviously DMV data includes nearly every American. If the data is cross-checked with Federal taxes or travel records, everyone's behavior can be easily tracked.

ICE's Palantir platforms can ingest cell tower records and phone extraction data. If applied domestically, the government could map an American's entire social graph -- who they meet, where they go, or if they are a supporter of the government or not.

ICE can link employment authorization data, Social Security records, and benefit claims, making it trivial to flag fraud on any American they choose.

Palantir systems connect FBI, DHS, and local police records with ICE data -- a good thing now, as it lets ICE agents instantly see criminal history, parole status, and immigration status in one screen. But if normalized for all U.S. citizens, a minor arrest or mistaken police report could surface whenever a citizen interacts with the government, making small mistakes or false allegations follow someone for life.

ICE is now using mobile facial recognition technology to track immigrants and tie their identities to "derogatory information" compiled in one of their database. The agency also uses Clearview AI, facial recognition tech that scrapes social media, and much of the data is managed by Palantir.

Deporting more immigrants remains a popular goal in the United States. But the technology used to do it should raise concerns. And Palantir has only just begun. Today, the company is worth more than $400 billion, with over half of its revenue coming from government contracts.

If you're not a criminal, and you're in the country legally, you might think your data is safe to share with Washington D.C. But when the government can make life hell by questioning your taxes or your mortgage or your online purchases or your passport application, it just might motivate you to vote in ways that keep that government in power. You know, so it stays out of your hair.