
Palantir CEO: Silicon Valley Shouldn't Dictate US Policy - kyloon
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-22/the-complicated-politics-of-palantir-s-ceo
======
xiphias2
Sure, it's much better if Robert Mercer dictates US Policy and all the
environmental protections are rolled back.

------
yters
Ironic given where most of SV's money and tech knowledge came from.

------
drivingmenuts
I agree with the headline. If the US government wants a certain thing, within
the bounds of the law, it should be willing to pay the going rate for that
thing to companies willing to provide it. If there are no takers, we’ll, then
the government doesn’t get that thing unless it provides it itself.

What Karp is really complaining about is how tech workers are being vocal in
their disagreement with US policy, which is their right to do.

------
ixtli
Interesting that they're worried a prevailing attitude amongst the laborers in
tech that we shouldn't be engaging in things Palantir profits off of (like
migrant concentration camps) might cause them to attack the industry itself.

~~~
mc32
They are detention centers. Normal process by most countries upon illegal
entry is to send you back. We actually grant people the option to stay and
take their chances on appeal rather than just send them back. They can choose
to go back. A gulag does not allow the option to return whence you came.

What do you think would happen if I took a boat into Japan, China, S Korea,
South Africa, Romania, Ghana, etc., and as a foreigner got stopped asked for
passport and didn’t have a stamp? I’d get sent back. No chance to stay in a
tent and appeal.

~~~
jkachmar
As mentioned elsewhere, please see the ACLU’s suggested alternatives to the
current United States administration’s detention policies [0].

Also consider that the following conditions are obviously inhumane: separating
children from their parents, administering drugs to children without consent
or medical information, withholding supplies necessary for basic hygiene
equipment (e.g. toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, etc.), and dangerously
overcrowding people in these facilities.

The above is certainly not comprehensive, but it should be thorough _enough_
to convince anyone that what we (the United States) are doing is wrong, and
that we (technical labor) should not support it if at all possible.

[https://www.aclu.org/other/aclu-fact-sheet-alternatives-
immi...](https://www.aclu.org/other/aclu-fact-sheet-alternatives-immigration-
detention-atd)

------
cheez
The headline is incorrect. "Large tech platforms shouldn't dictate policy
winners and losers" is more accurate.

I think his view is well reasoned and while you can disagree ideologically, I
would like to hear the reason.

------
bpchaps
Flagging this. This post has been advertised on Twitter non-stop. This is very
clearly written as a PR piece, and it won't go away.

------
paxys
Yup, leave that to Wall Street, defense contractors and oil companies. Can't
have these engineers messing with the status quo.

~~~
notus
None of these people should be deciding the status quo tbh, neither should SV

------
adamnemecek
I hope this kills the company. I think that working for Palantir is going to
be the same as working for Philip Morris.

