Slashdot Mirror
How a Team of Geeks Cracked the Spy Trade
drunken_boxer777 sends us to The Wall Street Journal for a lengthy article on a small tech company, Palantir Technologies, that is making the CIA, Pentagon, and FBI take notice. The submitter adds, "And yes, their company name is a reference to what you think it is." "One of the latest entrants into the government spy-services marketplace, Palantir Technologies has designed what many intelligence analysts say is the most effective tool to date to investigate terrorist networks. The software's main advance is a user-friendly search tool that can scan multiple data sources at once, something previous search tools couldn't do. That means an analyst who is following a tip about a planned terror attack, for example, can more quickly and easily unearth connections among suspects, money transfers, phone calls and previous attacks around the globe. ... With Palantir's software 'you can actually point to examples where it was pretty clear that lives were saved.'"
With a name like Palentir, it sounds like trojan spy program, not a Google like search tool.
"He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
And creates a great risk of corruption among those who use it.
I am officially gone from
What happens when you aim the same tool at ordinary people like Slashdotters? You will discover sexual orientation, adultery, etc.
In other words, the same tool saving us from the terrorists can also defeat the last barriers protecting our privacy. If an intelligence officer in the government hated a particular SlashDotter (due to her articles in this forum), that officer could easily identify her address, her friends, her bank accounts, her adulterous lover, etc. Can you say, "blackmail"?
The tech sounds quite interesting; but I'm not sure I love the idea of having intelligence agents operate on a "Yes, person A is linked to person B. You aren't allowed to know why; but the omniscient computer assures you that it is so." basis.
The summary seems to be a description of a meta-search engine, which is rather common. (Dogpile).
The actual product seems MUCH more interesting than the silly summary. It compartamentalizes secret info, so if you are classified for level 5, you can still search and find info that is level 6, even if the file also has level 4 information. It can also tag information so that if your level 5 clearance is not enough to tell you how person A is connected to person B, you can still know that the connection exists.
Yeah, but if you are classified for level 5 and look at level 6, which presumably is above your classification, then you are in fact looking at classified work even if it has level 4 work - which means the levels of classification are being broken and the security is compromised. And if person A is a 5 and looking at classification 6 which is connected to person B it in effect blows any security clearances out the door. Of course, person C who is a 4 looking at person B who is a ....I've gone cross-eyed, dizzy and I'm nauseous.
It's NOT me! It's the meds! I'm on 1000mg of Fukitol.
It's interesting in the context of this discussion that Tolkien's Palentir were more than just viewing devices. They could also be used to communicate with other stones, and I think for other purposes. Anyway, when one of the stones fell into evil hands, the Dark Lord was able to use his power over it to control anyone foolish enough to try and use one of the remaining stones.
There's a lesson here I think.
May the Maths Be with you!
Good guys used it too. To defeat Sauron AND to "keep the world safe".
In fact... Good guys made all 7 Palantir mentioned in LotR.
Sauron got his hands on one of those and used it to corrupt Saruman and Denethor.
So... No. It is not "the tool the evil guy used to control the world."
The message would be that "power corrupts". In this case - power in the form of knowledge or information.
What Palantir really lacked was a decent firewall. No protection whatsoever.
Very intuitive user interface though. And they were practically indestructible.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Thanks, my internet is down, I was unable to google that myself.
So how are you posting this?
Palantir is a startup with Clarion (a hedge fund) VC backing. Clarion is now using their connections to showcase their holding via the WSJ. Sounds like Clarion is trying to dump their investment and cash out.
... a badly written child's fantasy world ....
Now now, Tolkien's Middle-earth was a badly-written ADULT'S fantasy world.
It's all about need to know. If you knowing why is necessary to draw a conclusion, you'll eventually be granted this access.
Under the old system, you outright wouldn't even know that a connection exists, nevermind whether you need to know whether that connection is important or not.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
i'm guessing you thing Twilight and Harry Potter are works of genius?
i'm surprised more people haven't taken your flamebait.
"If still these truths be held to be
Self evident."
-Edna St. Vincent Millay
Thanks, my bookshelf fell down, and I was unable to read it myself.
Does having a witty signature really indicate normality?
Question: Where in the Constitution does it say that "THEY" can't use aggregated multi-database search engines to investigate American citizens for no stated reason?
Answer: It's under the 2nd amendment.
As privacy is directly an implied tenet of the inalienable right of liberty we hold so dear, isn't it time we set about protecting it directly?
It's far too easy to label someone a 'potential' terrorist and ruin their life. There's far too little recourse when this system is used in error.
A police state is much more efficient than a libertarian society. Imagine the conveniences you could enjoy, locked up safely at home.