The Trump administration is collecting data on all Americans, and they are enlisting the data analysis company Palantir to do it.
The New York Times reports that President Trump has enlisted the firm, founded by far-right billionaire Peter Thiel, to carry out his March executive order instructing government agencies to share data with each other. The order has increased fears that the government is putting together a database to wield surveillance powers over the American public.
Since then, the administration has been very quiet about these efforts, increasing suspicion. Meanwhile, Palantir has taken more than $113 million in government spending since Trump took office, from both existing contracts and new ones with the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. That number is expected to grow, especially given that the firm just won a new $795 million contract with the DOD last week.
Palantir is speaking with various other agencies across the federal government, including the Social Security Administration and the IRS, about buying its technology, according to the Times. Palantir’s Foundry tool, which analyzes and organizes data, is already being used at the DHS, the Department of Health and Human Services, and at least two other agencies, allowing the White House to compile data from different places.
This is an opinion piece, slanted toward privacy and against totalitarianism, but I do not see how anyone can stop data collection. Information about us is everywhere and easily gathered. It can be weaponized and probably will. How do you stop it? If USA does not do it, others will. Information knows no borders. This is another reason why we should do all we can to preserve free speech and support those who support it. Free speech and freedom of thought are all we have left to protect ourselves. Masses of free humans will become the only database that can stand up to AI and those who control it. ABN
American Buddhist Net 