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They make software for non-technical users to explore relationships in unstructured data, and they do a lot of in-house consulting with their clients in terms o

They make software for non-technical users to explore relationships in unstructured data, and they do a lot of in-house consulting with their clients in terms of migrating data and building custom software add-ons. It's really not anywhere near as sinister as people make it out to be. Contrary to the WSJ article, I don't think Palantir does any data mining. Instead, Palantir's core competence is taking a customer's existing data and appropriately modeling it in their software.

caio1982 11y ago
"A document leaked to TechCrunch revealed that Palantir's clients as of 2013 included at least twelve groups within the US government, including the CIA, DHS, NSA, FBI, CDC, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, Special Operations Command, West Point [...]" From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies#2013 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies#2013 I wouldn't call these fellas "non-technical users" myself.
- MaxScheiber 11y ago
  Plenty of CIA analysts are non-technical, for starters, and I would imagine the same holds for the other agencies you mentioned. One does not need to be a programmer or especially well-versed in technology to hold those jobs. I think we're splitting hairs on the definition of "non-technical," but we can both agree that parsing large amounts of data isn't the easiest thing in the world to do, especially without formal training. Palantir's software does help with the data exploration process, as their website examples and demos should show.
  - ellio 11y ago
    I've done money laundering and fraud investigations for financial firms. Never got to use Palantir, but I know a guy who did. He said it's basically for people who don't know how to query or code on any level. I'm not surprised either. I can count the people in my field who want to learn SAS / SQL / R / VBA / Whatever on one hand.
- tptacek 11y ago
  Every big company that sells enterprise software has those same clients. Those are Oracle clients, IBM clients, Microsoft clients, and Cisco clients. Why is Palantir special for having a GSA price list?
chinathrow 11y ago
Wow - that sounded like a well oiled PR release straight from there. Good writeup! :) Edit: Ah you're a former employee of Palantir, that explains a lot.
- dang 11y ago
  Personal attacks are not allowed on HN. MaxScheiber posted a fine comment, which implied that he had worked there (or had inside knowledge somehow), so your comment doesn't "explain" anything, it merely poisons the discussion. The last thing we want at HN is to discourage people who know things from sharing what they know. We don't need you to like Palantir, but we do need you to refrain from commenting disrespectfully here.
  - chinathrow 11y ago
    Warning received and accepted - I stated my opinion, that MaxScheibers post sounded like PR speech which I forgot was acceptable here.
freehunter 11y ago
You don't do consulting and not understand what your client is doing with the data they have. Palantir doesn't need to do any data mining of their own. Making a model of unethical data is still unethical.* *I don't know if Palatir is an unethical company or not, just responding to the accusations.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
  - chinathrow 11y ago
    Was IBM blamed to sell machines to Nazi Germany for helping singling out jews? Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
  - freehunter 11y ago
    Microsoft and Dell aren't touching the data and building PCs hand-in-hand with the company to ensure the computer run exactly as the company needs them to. Microsoft and Dell don't need to know what anyone is doing with their PCs. Palatir needs to know what people are doing with their software so they can structure models around that exact set of data.

caio1982 11y ago

"A document leaked to TechCrunch revealed that Palantir's clients as of 2013 included at least twelve groups within the US government, including the CIA, DHS, NSA, FBI, CDC, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, Special Operations Command, West Point [...]" From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies#2013 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies#2013 I wouldn't call these fellas "non-technical users" myself.

MaxScheiber 11y ago
Plenty of CIA analysts are non-technical, for starters, and I would imagine the same holds for the other agencies you mentioned. One does not need to be a programmer or especially well-versed in technology to hold those jobs. I think we're splitting hairs on the definition of "non-technical," but we can both agree that parsing large amounts of data isn't the easiest thing in the world to do, especially without formal training. Palantir's software does help with the data exploration process, as their website examples and demos should show.
- ellio 11y ago
  I've done money laundering and fraud investigations for financial firms. Never got to use Palantir, but I know a guy who did. He said it's basically for people who don't know how to query or code on any level. I'm not surprised either. I can count the people in my field who want to learn SAS / SQL / R / VBA / Whatever on one hand.
tptacek 11y ago
Every big company that sells enterprise software has those same clients. Those are Oracle clients, IBM clients, Microsoft clients, and Cisco clients. Why is Palantir special for having a GSA price list?

chinathrow 11y ago

Wow - that sounded like a well oiled PR release straight from there. Good writeup! :) Edit: Ah you're a former employee of Palantir, that explains a lot.

dang 11y ago
Personal attacks are not allowed on HN. MaxScheiber posted a fine comment, which implied that he had worked there (or had inside knowledge somehow), so your comment doesn't "explain" anything, it merely poisons the discussion. The last thing we want at HN is to discourage people who know things from sharing what they know. We don't need you to like Palantir, but we do need you to refrain from commenting disrespectfully here.
- chinathrow 11y ago
  Warning received and accepted - I stated my opinion, that MaxScheibers post sounded like PR speech which I forgot was acceptable here.

freehunter 11y ago

You don't do consulting and not understand what your client is doing with the data they have. Palantir doesn't need to do any data mining of their own. Making a model of unethical data is still unethical.* *I don't know if Palatir is an unethical company or not, just responding to the accusations.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
- chinathrow 11y ago
  Was IBM blamed to sell machines to Nazi Germany for helping singling out jews? Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- freehunter 11y ago
  Microsoft and Dell aren't touching the data and building PCs hand-in-hand with the company to ensure the computer run exactly as the company needs them to. Microsoft and Dell don't need to know what anyone is doing with their PCs. Palatir needs to know what people are doing with their software so they can structure models around that exact set of data.