The Anti-Palantir Manifesto
The article presents a critical manifesto against Palantir, arguing that the company's surveillance and data-mining technologies enable mass surveillance, undermine civil liberties, and serve authoritarian and imperialist interests. It calls for a collective refusal to participate in or legitimize such systems, advocating instead for building liberatory, community-controlled alternatives.
Background
- Palantir is a Silicon Valley data-analytics company co-founded by Peter Thiel. It builds software (e.g., Gotham, Foundry) used by intelligence agencies, police, militaries, and corporations to fuse and analyze massive datasets — often for surveillance, predictive policing, or military targeting.
- The company has long been controversial: critics call it the infrastructure of mass surveillance and digital authoritarianism; supporters see it as a necessary tool for national security. Its contracts with ICE, the US military, and foreign governments have sparked protests and walkouts.
- Nym is a privacy‑focused tech company that builds mix‑net technology (a next‑generation anonymity layer for internet traffic), positioning itself as the opposite of surveillance‑enabling infrastructure. This "manifesto" is Nym’s framing of why they oppose Palantir’s vision — arguing for privacy and democratic control over data, rather than centralized, opaque surveillance power.