
Tech employees protest in front of Palantir HQ - sarahbuhr
https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/18/tech-employees-protest-in-front-of-palantir-hq-over-fears-it-will-build-trumps-muslim-registry/
======
Chris2048
> they are concerned Palantir and its co-founder and Trump advisor Peter Thiel
> stand to profit off the makings of a citizen database that could be used
> against those identifying as followers of Islam in the United States

So, is this just an attempt to smear Thiel by implying his company is going to
"build Trump’s Muslim registry", and that Trump is indeed going to build one?
Smear by association?

> "Being forced to collaborate with the U.S. government on large-scale human
> rights abuses is the first time I’ve ever seen that made high-end tech
> workers unionize"

What collaboration? I thought this was speculative "concern"? and who forces
tech workers to do anything anyway?

Also, let's not talk about "tech workers unioniz[ing]" on the basis of just 50
people...

> one of the protestors and the founder of Frame Shift, a consulting firm
> training startups on inclusion and diversity

..leftist tech-workers, with possible interests of their own

> Trump pledged he would ban Muslim immigrants and establish a registry while
> in office

Did he? Maybe TC should clarify these claims, and what they mean. He _pledged_
nothing wrt a registry though.

> such a database smacked of the Holocaust

which is why the idea was invented, and repeatedly reported, by the media.

> [Palantir] had not been quite as vocal.

Guilt through silence?

> Palantir’s Alex Karp eventually did come out against the building of a
> Muslim registry last week

Actually, no. Something actually substantial, and it doesn't support the
premise of the protests, and the article. Nice weaseling: "eventually", as if
there is some requirement to satisfy the press within some time limit.

> There’s a difference between telling the press that and pledging to never do
> it.

Beg next time, Alex! Get down on you knees! The left must be satisfied!!

> what measures it would take to ensure it would not be making a Muslim
> registry

Are you fucking serious!?!...

~~~
bostand
I don't understand what these protests hope to achieve.

Having said that, you are questioning things that have been public knowledge
for a while.

~~~
Chris2048
Can you be more specific? What "have been public knowledge for a while"?

What is public knowledge worth?

"3\. the information system which informs the collective is filtered by a
quality control mechanism that relies on individuals to a high degree.

Lanier argues that only under those circumstances can a collective be smarter
than a person. If any of these conditions are broken, the collective becomes
unreliable or worse."

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wisdom_of_Crowds#Criticism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wisdom_of_Crowds#Criticism)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions)

If you are talking about the "Muslim Registry":

[http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/01/15/s-f-mayor-
opp...](http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/01/15/s-f-mayor-opposes-
trump-muslim-registry-never-proposed/)

"Look, I’m not going to rule out anything. I wouldn’t — we’re not going to
have a registry based on a religion." \-- Priebus

[http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016/11/20/priebus-were-
not-g...](http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016/11/20/priebus-were-not-going-to-
have-a-registry-based-on-a-religion/)

If you don't like breitbart:

[http://www.vox.com/policy-and-
politics/2016/11/16/13649764/t...](http://www.vox.com/policy-and-
politics/2016/11/16/13649764/trump-muslim-register-database)

"it seems Trump is trying to say that he was previously talking about illegal
immigration and a wall -- not a registry for Muslims. And he seems taken aback
by stories that said he wanted such a database."

[http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-
meter/article/2015/nov/24/...](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-
meter/article/2015/nov/24/donald-trumps-comments-database-american-muslims/)

One example of reporting that buries the lede:

[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/barack-
obam...](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/barack-obama-donald-
trump-muslim-registry-will-it-happen-could-be-blocked-a7456856.html)

~~~
randomgyatwork
I don't like Trump, never have. But the way the media baits his words and
expects us to be appalled is absurd and dishonest.

------
jmcgough
For those wondering what the rationale is, the protest website has a good
explanation: [http://dobetter.tech](http://dobetter.tech)

~~~
ng12
I don't understand what's specific about Palantir. If our government decides
to take action against a specific group of people I really don't think the
database used is going to be the bounding factor.

~~~
jmcgough
> I don't understand what's specific about Palantir

They've already developed the tech that the government is likely to use, have
millions of dollars of federal contracts, and have done very little to
convince the public that they won't use their software and data for targeting
muslims or some other group.

It's not about setting up a database, it's about populating that database, and
it's taken years for Palantir to develop the data pipeline, analysis and
infrastructure to do that.

~~~
ng12
My understanding is that Palantir sells analytical tools, not that they do
data collection themselves. I'm sure there are a few three-letter agencies
that could to that well enough without them. It's also why I find it kind of
ironic that Facebook employees were among the protestors.

