Thread by @StefSimanowitz

#BREAKING: Amnesty raise concerns over #Palantir’s human rights record
in advance of the direct listing of #PalantirTechnologies, on the New York Stock Exchange tmw.

READ REPORT: Failing to Do Right: The Urgent Need for Palantir to Respect Human Rights amnestyusa.org/press-releases…

“We could close our eyes & pretend that contrary to all the evidence, #Palantir is a rights-respecting company or we can call this façade what it is: another company placing profit over people, no matter the human cost.” Michael Kleinman, @amnestyusa on #PalantirTechnologies.

This isn't the first time @amnesty have raised concerns.

In May, they warned: “The shadowy data-mining firm #Palantir, whose technology has powered some of the most nefarious immigration abuses, is now collecting troves of health data about all of us.”
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…

Then in July, @amnesty published this CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT article revealing how - working with govts - Big Tech firms are using the #COVID19 crisis to obliterate a last frontier of our privacy: our biological selves

"Bio-invasive surveillance capitalism" amnesty.org/en/latest/news…

In March, @BorisJohnson met big tech firms to discuss #COVID response. "The govt then quietly granted access to millions of UK health data records to Amazon, Microsoft, Google & Palantir to build a #Covid Datastore, aggregating data from multiple sources, including testing data."

In April #Palantir won a contract to run the #COVID digital platform for the NHS alongside #FacultyAI

Both companies have links to #CambridgeAnalytica

At the SAME TIME, they also won a $7.5m contract to build the digital platform for US Health Dept (HHS)

On 8 July, the UK govt sidelined SAGE in favour of the secretive Joint Biosecurity Centre headed by a senior spy.

On 22 July Downing St took control of data

On 14 July, the Trump admin ordered hospitals to send all #COVID data to HHS Protect, run by #Palantir

Notice a pattern?

Palantir was awarded the NHS & HHS #COVID19 contracts without competitive tender

We only KNOW about these contracts because of Freedom of Information lawsuits against the US & UK govts

They expose the fact that Palantir appear to be part of a single, coordinated US-UK strategy.

Palantir aren't just running the UK & US digital platforms

They're doing the same for dozens - perhaps scores - of govts around the world

#Palantir often offer it for free

The initial £1 UK contract soon morphed into one for £1 million

But its the data that is worth billions!

In July, 30+ members of Congress called for greater transparency on #Palantir's use of data

In the UK, the companies running the platform for the NHS (the country's MOST trusted brand) have links with #CambridgeAnalytica (the country's LEAST trusted brand), but no MPs speak out.

We already know that Big Tech mine & sell our data, but the new frontier lies not in our consumer behaviour, but in our biological selves.

As James Watson, who discovered the structure of DNA, said: Our fates lie in our genes and not in the stars.

But who controls that fate?

#Palantir's #PeterThiel is a right-wing billionaire with reported associations with the far-right

He donated $1m to the "Defeat Crooked Hillary" campaign backed by Robert Mercer & overseen by Steve Bannon.

Mercer & Bannon were the main kingpins behind #CambridgeAnalytica.

According to @reason, #PeterThiel is "a radical right-winger" and "the wealthiest ally of the new conservative nationalist movement", "connected, via friendship, venture capital and at least some ideological affinity" with far-right blogger, Curtis Yarvin. reason.com/2020/08/02/wai…

In 2016, #PeterThiel hosted former Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos and white supremacist Curtis Yarvin.

Yarvin wrote of Thiel, he is “fully enlightened, just plays it very carefully.” #Palantir #PalantirTechnologies #PalantirPlan #Trump #COVID19 dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8…

As well as links to the far-right & to #CambridgeAnalytica,
#PeterThiel's big interest is in genetics

He has backed DNA-testing/editing & genetic engineering startups as well as numerous life sciences companies such as Halcyon Molecular, Pathway Genomics, Juvenesence, Imatato.

“The mushroom-like growth of institutes & research programs, financed by 'visionary philanthropists' dreaming of a positive eugenics for the 21st century. Among the most prominent is funded by Peter Thiel.” Profs Rose, 2014

"Positive eugenics" is key to understanding the ‘plan’.

Eugenics - the idea of "breeding out” disease & so-called undesirable traits from a population - was all the rage until Hitler

Even the Nazis distinguished btw "negative eugenics" (discouraging the "inferior" from breeding) & "positive eugenics" (encouraging the "fit" to breed).

After WWII, eugenics didn’t go away

The discovery of the DNA double helix in 1953, gave rise to modern molecular biology & genetic engineering

The 1990 Human Genome Project mapped all the genes of the human genome

Gene editing = altering human genomes.

Most genome editing is limited to somatic cells & affect only certain tissues & aren't passed from one generation to the next

But germline genome editing could pass changes to future generations & even could even help reshape humans & our society

The idea is v attactive to some

Advances in genetics - incldg epigentics - have resulted in big advances in diagnosis, treatment of & prevention of disease

It has HUGE potential social & cost benefits, not just in medicine

But we've seen the movie!

We know genetics can get out of hand

Until now, the clearest indication that the govt might have big aspirations in this direction was Cummings' blog

Then last Saturday (!), @MattHancock launched #GenomeUK, a major new Genomic Healthcare Strategy for the UK

It didn't get much news coverage.

https://twitter.com/MattHancock/status/1309788592919793665

An academic source says "Hancock's announcement is a statement of intent & suggests genome research might be put at the heart of their programme for govt"

Hancock today: "The way that we do healthcare is completely changing, & we've got to embrace that"

https://twitter.com/MattHancock/status/1312793204178198528