\n<\/p>\n
For 100 years, the UK government has led us through existential threats, including two world wars. But instead of resisting the latest threat to democratic accountability, it has welcomed it with open arms: Palantir Technologies (NHS deal with AI firm Palantir called into question after officials\u2019 concerns revealed, 12 February).<\/p>\n
This polarising US surveillance giant provides data-fusion and AI platforms used by by the US for immigration enforcement and by Israel in the Gaza conflict. Its software amplifies state power through militarised analytics and opaque algorithms.<\/p>\n
The current government hasn\u2019t just surrendered citizens\u2019 data rights to Palantir \u2013 it has paid for the privilege. Palantir is a power project rooted in data dominance, treating sensitive public information not as sacrosanct, but as fuel for systems designed to concentrate control.<\/p>\n
How did this happen? Disclosures from the Jeffrey Epstein files cast light on Palantir\u2019s expansion within an increasingly Americanised and rotten British establishment. Epstein associate Peter Thiel co-founded Palantir, while Epstein\u2019s friend, Peter Mandelson, introduced the company to Keir Starmer in Washington. This opened the door for a \u00a3330m NHS contract, and also a \u00a3240m Ministry of Defence deal that was awarded without\u00a0competitive tender.<\/p>\n
Let the UK stand as a warning of what happens when a \u201cspecial relationship\u201d curdles into dependency \u2013 trading sovereignty for code designed to control. The government is sufficiently anxious about Trump\u2019s ability to turn off US-owned payment systems, and the disruption this would cause, to begin planning an alternative (UK bank bosses plan to set up Visa and Mastercard alternative amid Trump fears, 16 February). Why then is the government not equally concerned about the UK\u2019s heavy dependence on tech giants that have close ties to\u00a0the US administration? Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For 100 years, the UK government has led us through existential threats, including two world wars. But instead of resisting the latest threat to democratic accountability, it has welcomed it with open arms: Palantir Technologies (NHS deal with AI firm Palantir called into question after officials\u2019 concerns revealed, 12 February). This polarising US surveillance giant<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[9169,1111,3568,14139,3033,702,1162],"class_list":{"0":"post-45047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-citizens","9":"tag-data","10":"tag-deals","11":"tag-palantir","12":"tag-protection","13":"tag-rights","14":"tag-threat"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Stephen Saunders<\/strong>
Rodmell, East Sussex<\/em><\/p>\n
Jan Savage<\/strong>
London<\/em><\/p>\n