This article frames Palantir - providers of the NHSX data store - as a disruptive *defense* contractor not a Silicon Valley unicorn. vox.com/recode/2020/7/… 
Now why is a defense contractor working with the NHS? Something something exceptional times, but a public-health emergency isn’t actually a war, is it? Except Cummings’ fascination with military-born innovation is a known-known, eg the term “skunkworks” was invented by Lockheed.
Here’s a quote from Palantir CEO about why the additional scrutiny of going to IPO might not be worth the trouble: “you need a lot of creative, wacky people that maybe Wall Street won’t understand”. Now, what does that remind me of?
Oh yes, “weirdos and misfits” google.co.uk/amp/s/dominicc…
Now of course, the Palantir panopticon is concerning from a privacy, surveillance and human rights perspective. But also: what is the long-game? If it’s all part of a plan to get better dashboards and make data-driven policy it seems like a high price to pay.
Where is the scrutiny, the oversight? Or will this continue to slip through because no one wants to look anti-progress?
Just a reminder of the job description for the head of the No 10 skunkworks - a “quantitative revolution” building “data worlds”. civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?…
Of course, at a moment when the UK’s ability to count things is under significant scrutiny, this might seem like a welcome improvement, and perhaps it is, but where are the ethics boards? Where are the teams of sociologists being spun up to generate insight?
Or, to put it more eloquently:
Anyway, tl;dr, I think this is a huge risk to a functioning democracy and don’t understand why more people - particularly those who’ve been part of the #AIEthics and #dataethics communities - aren’t up in arms about it.
