cross-posted from: 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.
mazzilius_marsti@lemmy.world 1 day ago
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@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Projection in action. Mostly everything they accuse the other side of, that are guilty of.
Eggyhead@lemmings.world 1 day ago
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.