Palantir declares itself the guardian of Americans' rights
- Reference: 1770138495
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/02/03/palantir_american_rights/
- Source link:
At such a triumphal moment, it was striking that the company was forced on the defensive, not least for its involvement with the controversial US agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which began in 2011. ICE has drawn criticism for its activities in Minnesota over the last month after its agents shot and killed two American citizens while bystanders captured the events on video.
As it announced its booming financial results, Palantir was prepared. CEO Alex Karp told CNBC: "If you are critical of ICE, you should be out there protesting for more Palantir. Our product, actually, in its core, requires people to conform with Fourth Amendment data protection."
[1]
In fact, Karp had already mapped out this argument in a letter to investors and during a call with financial analysts.
[2]
[3]
The actual numbers were strong, as Palantir reported Q4 revenue of $1.41 billion, up 70 percent year-on-year. Revenue for calendar 2025 grew 56 percent to hit $4.475 billion. Underlying operating profit for the quarter more than doubled to $798 million.
Palantir's growth is being driven in part by a boom in government deals. US government revenue for the quarter grew 66 percent year-over-year to $570 million, more than half of its US revenue and more than a third of its total revenue.
[4]
On an earnings call, Karp said the company's software inherently instills the protection of individual rights.
"From the beginning, we have stuck to our very strong values of expanding what we believe is the noble side of the West ... meaning domestic institutions, intelligence institutions [are] essentially taking an [5]incatenation of the Fourth Amendment, which is completely represented by our [6]pipelining , [7]Foundry , and impregnating institutions with it so that every institution that uses our product is doing it within conformity of the law and the ethics of America," he said.
In [8]a letter prepared for investors , Karp had already laid out these arguments. "It should indeed be uncontroversial that the single most effective means of guarding against incursions into our private lives is to invest in the development of a technical platform that makes possible constraints on government action and investigation through granular permissioning capabilities, to ensure that the state and its agents can see only what ought to be seen, and functional audit logs, to ensnare both external and internal threats."
[9]
"The construction of such a platform, one that reflects our ethical commitments, should, of course, be a rallying cry for progressives and critical thinkers across the political spectrum who profess to be interested in advancing the values of the Fourth Amendment," he said.
As if aware of the need to pre-empt critics, Karp indulged in what could be described as a political diatribe, full of philosophical references that some may see at odds with any ordinary requirement to promote a software company.
[10]Britain's Ministry of Defence signs on the dotted line with Palantir
[11]Palantir helps Ukraine train interceptor drone brains
[12]Palantir CEO claims AI will mean western economies won't need immigration
[13]Palantir wants to set the juice loose with new AI power initiative
"We have, as a country and perhaps as well a civilization, grown uncertain of what we believe and far too fearful of embracing any degree of cultural specificity in our communal lives, banishing sentiment and belief from the public and corporate spheres under an often-hollow banner of inclusion," he complained.
Karp lamented that a "common set of values and sentiments" is missing when the focus is on inclusion, as he sees it.
"It seems at times that we have abandoned any hope of patrolling the boundaries of our community, of resisting the superficial appeal of a hollow pluralism, in which all cultures and cultural values are declared by fiat and without reflection equal," the letter said.
Is he ignorant that some people in Minnesota feel the need to patrol their own communities to protect it from an outside presence, ICE, an entity that boosts Palantir's top line?
Heaven forbid anyone sees the need to come together to oppose such government actions.
He said: "An uncomfortable fact is that those who are most bearish on their own abilities often turn to organizing politically," to which one might respond that those who are rich don't need to.
The CEO's statements that Palantir is protecting the Fourth Amendment run counter to ICE's own legal memorandum and what judges in Minnesota have found, which is that ICE has violated the Fourth Amendment during its most recent surge in the state where it deployed 3,000 federal agents into a community normally patrolled by a few hundred police.
On Jan. 15, US District Court judge Jeffrey Bryan [14]ordered the release of a Liberian man after he determined agents violated the Fourth Amendment when they used a battering ram to raid the home he shares with his wife and 9-year old child.
"Although Garrison G. and his wife repeatedly asked the agents to show them a judicial warrant authorizing entry into their home, and the agents stated that they had a warrant, the agents did not produce a judicial warrant. Only after agents forcibly opened the front door and entered the house did they show Garrison G.'s wife any documentation. The document presented was not a judicial warrant," Bryan wrote in the order releasing the man.
"Respondents' arrest of Garrison G. violated the Fourth Amendment. To arrest him, Respondents forcibly entered Garrison G's home without his consent and without a judicial warrant. For this Independent reason, Garrison G.'s detention is unlawful, and the Court orders his immediate release."
Bryan’s ruling upended instructions to agents in the field, which directed that ICE may enter homes without a judicial warrant in cases where the government has a removal order. According to the [15]Associated Press , the memo was signed by the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, and has been in effect since May 12, 2025.
"Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose," the memo states.
Karp's detractors might see the most straightforward explanation of his need for philosophical references as well-dressed political chicanery. A few slashes of Occam's razor reveal that, given the number of assumptions it takes to believe Karp or follow his arguments, it's more likely he wants to make his investors feel better (and more intellectually superior) about their holdings in his company. That's smart business, but we could do without the song and dance. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aYJ-Ds7BH6GFd-7mXQb_yQAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aYJ-Ds7BH6GFd-7mXQb_yQAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aYJ-Ds7BH6GFd-7mXQb_yQAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aYJ-Ds7BH6GFd-7mXQb_yQAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/incatenation
[6] https://www.palantir.com/docs/foundry/pipeline-builder/overview
[7] https://www.palantir.com/platforms/foundry/
[8] https://www.palantir.com/q4-2025-letter/en/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aYJ-Ds7BH6GFd-7mXQb_yQAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/28/mod_palantir_deal/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/22/ukraine_interceptor_drone_palantir/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/21/palantir_ceo_karp_claims_ai/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/04/palantir_chain_reaction/
[14] https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/minnesota/mndce/0:2026cv00172/230248/6/
[15] https://apnews.com/article/ice-arrests-warrants-minneapolis-trump-00d0ab0338e82341fd91b160758aeb2d
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Does he care?
The ROI of the few million he bunged to a certain President will overjoy his techbro investors as government contracts shoot up and not just in Minnesota. Here in return for all our data they might help the NHS do something or other. And we are paying for it!
[1]https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2025/10/23/palantir-donation-trump-white-house-ballroom
[1] https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2025/10/23/palantir-donation-trump-white-house-ballroom
Blatherskite
Verbal diarrhea unrelated to his company's core business might indicate the kind of detachment that leads to failed ventures.
Re: Blatherskite
It doesn't seem to have hindered Elon Musk's success.
Re: Blatherskite
I truly hope so.
Maybe I’m dumb, but isn’t Palantir’s business model focused on ignoring the Fourth Amendment? Not protecting it?
"Palantir declares itself the guardian of Americans' rights"
Palantir???
This must be some new definition of 'American Rights' that I had not previously been aware of ?
Rich and white.
Do keep up
The global AI Panopticon
On a lark, I asked Copilot how AI is being used to usher in an era of total global surveillance. Here's what it had to say:
How Artificial Intelligence Is Helping Usher in an Era of Total Global Surveillance
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the scope, speed, and scale of surveillance worldwide. While surveillance itself is not new, AI is fundamentally changing how much governments and institutions can see, interpret, and act upon—often in real time, and with far fewer human constraints.
This shift is occurring through several intertwined mechanisms:
1. AI Supercharges Traditional Surveillance Infrastructure
Facial Recognition at Scale
AI-driven facial recognition transforms static CCTV networks into active tracking systems capable of identifying individuals across entire cities. This allows authorities to continuously match faces against massive databases and track movement patterns in real time, something impossible with human-only monitoring.
Countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, China, and many others have deployed or planned widespread systems that integrate cameras, facial recognition, and centralized AI analysis engines.
Context-Aware Video Analytics
Beyond simple identification, modern AI surveillance tools can assess behavior, crowd density, environmental context, and even predicted actions—providing a level of interpretation that previously required teams of analysts.
This can include recognizing specific clothing, detecting unusual movements, and producing automatic alerts, vastly expanding state monitoring capabilities.
2. Global Proliferation of AI Surveillance Technologies
The AI Global Surveillance Index tracks adoption of AI-enhanced monitoring tools in 176 countries, revealing an unprecedented international surge.
These deployments range from:
Smart city platforms
Predictive policing systems
Biometric border control
Ubiquitous traffic and pedestrian monitoring
Countries of every regime type—liberal democracies, electoral democracies, autocracies—are adopting these systems, demonstrating a global normalization of AI-powered surveillance.
3. AI Lowers the Cost of Authoritarian Control
AI enables governments to monitor citizens without the expense of large security forces, thereby empowering both cash-strapped states and established autocracies.
Examples:
AI surveillance can detect dissent, track protestors, and identify critics online or in public spaces with unprecedented speed.
Research indicates that simply knowing such systems exist can reduce public protest, creating a chilling effect.
This dynamic allows regimes to exert control more subtly and with fewer visible acts of repression—making modern authoritarianism less visibly violent but more structurally pervasive.
4. AI Surveillance Is Expanding Across Democracies Too
Surveillance abuses are no longer confined to authoritarian states. Even in the United States, concerns have grown about government agencies and contractors using AI tools to:
Scan social media at massive scale
Summarize millions of posts for intelligence purposes
The combination of vast data, political polarization, and weak oversight creates an environment where advanced monitoring tools can be misused by state actors.
5. Blurring of State Sovereignty Through Cross‑Border AI Surveillance
AI surveillance technologies increasingly cross national borders, allowing one country’s tools to monitor individuals within another nation.
For example:
Spyware such as Pegasus and advanced facial recognition systems developed in the U.S., China, or Israel can be deployed globally.
This erodes traditional notions of territorial sovereignty and enables states to conduct surveillance without any physical presence.
Such cross-border surveillance raises major ethical, diplomatic, and human rights concerns.
6. Public Adoption of AI‑Enhanced “Convenience” Systems
Some surveillance expansion happens indirectly, through consumer-facing AI tools marketed as efficiency innovations—such as biometric travel systems, smart city apps, and frictionless authentication services.
People often adopt them without fully understanding the implications for:
Data retention
Privacy protection
State access to sensitive biometric data
This contributes to a normalization of biometric monitoring in everyday life.
7. Corporate and Financial Sector Integration of AI Surveillance
AI is also transforming corporate surveillance, especially in financial and communications monitoring. Regulators increasingly expect AI-enhanced tools to detect risks and misconduct, leading firms to adopt sophisticated monitoring platforms that analyze communications at scale.
As these systems proliferate, the line between government surveillance and private-sector surveillance becomes increasingly blurred.
Conclusion: AI Enables a New Level of Global Surveillance
Together, these developments suggest that AI is not just augmenting traditional surveillance—it is enabling a qualitatively new era characterized by:
Real-time monitoring of entire populations
Predictive analysis of behaviors and dissent
Cross-border intrusion into sovereign domains
Mass data aggregation beyond human comprehension
Reduced costs and increased automation of state control mechanisms
Modern AI technologies have created the infrastructure for continuous, global, automated observation—a capability once considered science fiction.
Re: The global AI Panopticon
Quite.
Now ask it how AI is helping to protect the privacy, safety and rights of ordinary people from state interference in their lives and watch it come up with a similarly plausible word salad of total bollocks to support that proposition.
The more that I see and hear with regard to the current crop of LLM 'AI', the more it becomes apparent that they will provide you with whatever answer the wording of your query gives the impression that you are hoping for.
Re: The global AI Panopticon
I did that, and the difference in the results is striking. Most of the answers which came back refer to how AI is being regulated to control it and create legal guardrails. The one exception is that human rights organizations are using AI tools to monitor for human rights abuses. Copilot misconstrues limitations being put on AI as AI being used to protect human rights, which is clearly incorrect, but the results were not gibberish.
Re: The global AI Panopticon
Did you also ask it "How to I avoid the totalitarian surveillance state?"
And get a "this question goes against
Pale tier
They are great are pulling the wool over eyes of gullible politicians believing they have all the scary tech mumbo jumbo.
Palantir
It is not surprising that this company is soaring financially. This is a time when governments everywhere are becoming more and more attuned to the idea of surveillance, due process be damned. Cue [1]V for Vendetta . Honestly, I am starting to believe that that film, as well as [2]Idiocracy , are actual documentaries, not fiction.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434409/
[2] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/
Re: Palantir
If they are looking for a new 'eminence grise', I believe that Peter Mandelson may soon be (un)-available, depending on the Police criminal investigation into his links with a certain Mr J Epstein. He seems willing to work with almost anyone.
Karp's 'philosophising' contained far too much in the way of 'buzzword bingo' for my liking. (OK, admission, I barely understood what he was going on about, just that he was trying to make rich, rightwing, mostly white, mostly men, feel that they are the true 'majority' of Americans.)
Shivers down spines all round.
Sanctimonious prick, its bad enough he and his shitty corp have their fingers in too many pies in murica, but now that shit is happening in the Uk. And the political system in the Uk is just as fucking corrupt as it is in America it seems.
the political system in the Uk is just as fucking corrupt as it is in America
Yeah, but the USAfolk do it all with so much more panache! than we do.
From the company that is building the largest database on every American
"Palantir declares itself the guardian of Americans' rights" ?
Are these "rights" held in the same database that holds all the other private information of Americans?
Palantir Technologies sells an AI-based platform that allows its users – among them, military and law enforcement agencies – to analyze personal data, including social media profiles, personal information and physical characteristics. These are used to identify and surveil individuals.
In March, Trump signed an executive order requiring all agencies and departments of the federal government to share data on Americans. To get the job done, Trump chose Palantir Technologies.
According to New York Times reporting, Palantir’s software may now be used to combine data gleaned from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. Meanwhile, the administration wants access to citizens’ and others’ bank account numbers and medical claims.
[1]https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/30/peter-thiel-palantir-threat-to-americans
Oh, and this would be this Alex Karp:
Karp doesn’t hide his politics. He’s pro-military, anti-transparency and openly contemptuous of Silicon Valley’s squeamishness. While other CEOs flirt with ethics boards and open letters, Karp says the quiet part loud: Palantir is here to wage war—on inefficiency, on bureaucracy, on enemies foreign and domestic.
He ridicules the idea that tech should be restrained by liberal hand-wringing or ethical hesitation. To Karp, the moral compass is obsolete. What matters is effectiveness—disruption, domination, and deployment. He speaks like someone who doesn’t just want to assist power, but to optimize it, weaponize it, and automate it. - [2]https://asiatimes.com/2025/05/the-most-dangerous-man-in-america-isnt-trump-its-alex-karp/
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/30/peter-thiel-palantir-threat-to-americans
[2] https://asiatimes.com/2025/05/the-most-dangerous-man-in-america-isnt-trump-its-alex-karp/
Open source your software and maybe we'll believe you.
Went for a quick reminder about the Fourth Amendment
'Cos I don't have memorised which one does what, so tried [1]https://constitution.laws.com/4th-amendment , looks like it might be relevant to the quest, as it is supposed to simplify and explain the US Constitution, which sounds about right for this time of the evening.
Nope. It is "temporarily unavailable" in my region (somewhere deep in the UK) for "security reasons", as is the entire site.
Probably(!) nothing at all to do with Palantir, but it feels a wee bit odd to have any "security reasons" for restricting reading about this; is someone worried we'll do something nefarious with the knowledge? Maybe they are worried knowledge of individual US Rights might get back to the wrong people?
At least Wikipedia isn't as guarded. Yet.
[1] https://constitution.laws.com/4th-amendment
Dear Alex,
F**k off
Kind regards, Everyone