Palantir, the War On Terror's Secret Weapon 276
hessian tips a story in BusinessWeek about Palantir, a system designed to aggregate disparate data points gathered by intelligence agencies and weave them into a more useful narrative. The article summarizes it thus: "Depending where you fall on the spectrum between civil liberties absolutism and homeland security lockdown, Palantir’s technology is either creepy or heroic."
"The day Fikri drives to Orlando, he gets a speeding ticket, which triggers an alert in the CIA's Palantir system. An analyst types Fikri's name into a search box and up pops a wealth of information pulled from every database at the government's disposal. There's fingerprint and DNA evidence for Fikri gathered by a CIA operative in Cairo; video of him going to an ATM in Miami; shots of his rental truck's license plate at a tollbooth; phone records; and a map pinpointing his movements across the globe. All this information is then displayed on a clearly designed graphical interface that looks like something Tom Cruise would use in a Mission: Impossible movie."
Very coo that... (Score:5, Informative)
...the submitter linked to the one-page printer version. The full version of TFA spreads out over six page. I went through those six pages looking for a screenshot of the software, but there were none. So if you are going to read it (I must be new here) then stick to the printer version as submitted.
Thanks, hessian!
Re:Hello (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Who is the one pulling the jokes here? (Score:4, Informative)
it will not work worth a damm! because yet again americans think this is a technology problem. what do i offer as proof? read the recent right wing case in germany. these criminals lived ten years off the grid and murdered 8 people in cold blood without so much as a clue. they did it because they borrowed one id after another. but hey why let facts get in the way of an awesome computer program that is as useful as a paperweight.
Hmm, sounds familiar... (Score:5, Informative)
Oh yes, yes they were...
Fuck these guys and the horse they rode in on. Compared to a few pitiful fanatics who want to bomb everybody back to the 12th century, where they can feel at home, fine outfits like this are a much more serious threat to the aspects of our society worth saving.
Re:Practical use (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, yes. There's a free-to-use Palantir instance set up that lets you do just that.
https://www.analyzethe.us/
they were part of Team Themis with Berico + HBGary (Score:5, Informative)
look up any of the stories on Team Themis, Bank of America, Glenn Greenwald, etc. they were planning to character-assassinate people who were sympathetic to anonymous, including journalists.
Mod Parent Up (Score:2, Informative)
This needs to be repeated anytime this product or its creator is mentioned in the press. These are not good guys, and this work will not be put to virtuous use.
Re:Must be nice wherever you live. (Score:4, Informative)
TSO molesting children when off-duty [elkodaily.com]
Another TSO molesting children [myfoxorlando.com]
TSO rapist [youtube.com]
TSO fired after sexual assault while in uniform and off-duty [thehill.com]
Okay, you specifically said "rape", and I took a few liberties with the term, as well as limiting my replies to (mostly) TSA agents. Nevertheless, I'm sure you get the picture.
Re:Hello (Score:4, Informative)
You've basically pointed out the other axis, which is more or less orthogonal to the one mentioned in the title.
It runs from "computer says you're a tayrst, so get yer to gitmo" to "this is completely useless" via "this may occasionally flag things that warrant further investigation, but that would require some mental and possibly physical effort from some fat asstard who might be wearing a badge and carrying a gun but mentally he's still an 11 year old schoolyard bully".