Thread by @rachelcoldicutt

Expect more of this. The less well-prepared govt is for big ticket Brexit items, the more susceptible they will be to “oven-ready” technology from 3rd parties.

https://twitter.com/paullewis/status/1306477773242982400

Oh DEAR LORD: ‘The software, the document predicts, will help to bring about “delivery of one of the best borders in the world for 2025”.’

Worth noting that Palantir will have access to data from 4 govt departments.

Anyway, this all makes sense. Palantir’s tech is, by all accounts, very good at what it does (which, from what I can gather is: entrenching biased data-driven decisions in a super-smooth user experience) and this govt needs a tech capability win, and an effective border solution

Whether or not you ideologically support this approach (and I do not), there are Qs about trust, transparency and procurement to be asked and answered, and vital clarity about data flows, 2nd and 3rd order consequences, and the kind of data-driven decisions that will be made.

This will be quick to implement and impossible to unravel and - on a functioning democracy - needs laser-like scrutiny and effective mechanisms for accountability and governance.

This, from Palantir’s SEC filing, sets out a pretty attractive prospectus for a govt falling behind with delivery: “the time required to install our software and begin working with a customer ... [is] an average of 14 days”. (p. 2) sec.gov/Archives/edgar…

This from p2 of Palantir’s SEC filing might have been written for our own speed freak Dominic Cummings: “We believe that the underperformance and loss of legitimacy of many of these [govt] institutions will only increase the speed with which they are required to change.”

“We believe the software must connect the entire enterprise. Our most critical institutions cannot wait a year or longer for a promised application or a bespoke solution” - I imagine this elicited some excited table-banging in Mission Control, in anticipation of Good Graphs (p2)

The Palantir SEC filing sets out the perfect love match for an impatient advisor, frustrated by 100s of non-interoperating legacy systems. It sets out a fast path for making data actionable and “generating network effects”. Cummings is obvs going to be swiping right on this.

Even if it hasn’t come directly from 70 Whitehall, it’s such an obvious strategic fit, I can understand how and why it would get ushered in as an eg of point-winning bit of progress. But the Q remains: where is the effective governance for data-driven decision making in govt?

Worth noting that the Data Ethics Framework was updated yesterday: gov.uk/government/pub… (h/t @EinsteinsAttic)

It’s a big old checklist, that doesn’t offer much by way of accountability or escalation, or account for network effects: “If you have scored a 3 or less ... consult the outcome with your team leader, organisational ethics board or data ethics lead”

Anyway, anyway, I’ll leave it there, but this is giving me a bad case of déjà vu, and I suspect we can all expect to see a lot of data-sharing at speed and repenting at leisure over the next four years.

And actually finally: the UK Gov Border Strategy call for consultation is here - it closed on 28 Aug, so remarkably quick turn around, and perhaps the source of the phrase “world’s best border by 2025"gov.uk/government/new…

Quite the rich vein of “take back control” language in the various ministerial comments - from the announcement page the overriding theme seems to be reduced admin but increased scrutiny and control across trade, immigration, and criminal activity.