Palantir Denies Claims It Is Building Master Database

Palantir Technologies is roundly denying claims it’s building a massive, unified database containing Americans’ personal information, following media coverage implying its work for various federal agencies could enable unprecedented surveillance.

On May 30, the New York Times published an article highlighting the potential impact of the more than $900 million worth of federal contracts awarded to the Denver-based technology company since the beginning of the Trump administration.

“We are not building, we have not been asked to build, and we’re not in contract to build any kind of federal master list or master database across different agencies,” Courtney Bowman, the company’s global director of privacy and civil liberties, told The Epoch Times, “Each of those contracts are separate and fulfill specific mandates that are scoped and bound by congressional authorities and other laws.”

In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order designed to limit wasteful spending by “eliminating information silos” among federal agencies. The order mandates that federal agencies must share data with each other. Furthermore, it requires the federal government to have unrestricted access to data from state programs receiving federal funding.

In the days following the report, various media outlets published reports that interpreted Palantir’s work as tantamount to developing a “‘master database’ or ‘central intelligence layer’ drawing on Interal Revenue Service, Social Security, immigration and other records,” the Digital Trade & Data Governance Hub at George Washington University said in June.

“Collecting and linking such a vast array of sensitive records could create an unprecedented surveillance infrastructure. … There is a heightened risk of sensitive data being repurposed for uses beyond its original intent, or being used for political purposes,” a team led by Michael Moreno, a research associate at the Hub said.

Moreno declined an interview request from The Epoch Times.

In Congress, a group of Democratic Party lawmakers is demanding answers about Palantir’s work and data collection capabilities. On June 17, a group of 10 members of Congress led by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) accused the company of “enabling violations of human rights” and promised a full investigation of both Palantir and the Trump administration.

Since the article was published, Palantir has published multiple detailed blog posts denying the allegations made by both the New York Times and the Democratic lawmakers.

In an interview with The Epoch Times, Bowman said Palantir is not involved in any effort to create an application programming interface (API)—a set of rules and protocols that allow different software applications to communicate and exchange data with one another—that enables interagency or interdepartmental sharing of information. The company is developing APIs to help specific agencies, like the IRS, better utilize their own internal data, however.

“Each of those instances are isolated and bounded by the agency’s own security protocols, with access controls and privacy tools in place,” Bowman said.

Palantir’s software, Bowman said, is designed with privacy and security constraints embedded from the ground up. Its software runs within segregated environments. Therefore, he said, it’s impossible to pool data across departments unless authorized by the agency itself and supported by a formal data-sharing agreement.

Palantir is only providing authorized, internal data analytics for its federal clients, Bowman said. The company does not collect data itself.

As for dealing with the fallout from the recent press coverage, he said that the company has tried to address public concerns by responding publicly, reaching out to members of Congress, and offering in-depth briefings to reporters. He was critical of what he saw as some news outlets ignoring public information that would contradict the more inflammatory claims.

The wider concerns about data privacy, however, are legitimate and extend beyond Palantir, Bowman said. In an era of expanding artificial intelligence and digital data collection, Americans should remain vigilant about how information is used and shared.

“As a privacy expert, I think everybody should be concerned about how modern digital technology handles and interacts with data,” he said. “But let’s make sure we’re focusing on the actual state of play and where the real concerns are. We’re trying to have a reasoned and sober conversation about what’s within the bounds of reasonable expectations of privacy.”