UK MPs have raised concerns about the government’s contracts with Palantir after an investigation published in Switzerland highlighted allegations about the suitability and security of its products.

The investigation by the Zurich-based research collective WAV and the Swiss online magazine Republik details Palantir’s efforts, over the course of seven years, to sell its products to Swiss federal agencies.

Palantir is a US company that provides software to integrate and analyse data scattered across different systems, such as in the health service. It also provides artificial intelligence-enabled military targeting systems.

The investigation cites an expert report, internal to the Swiss army, that assessed Palantir’s status as a US company meant there was a possibility sensitive data shared with it could be accessed by the US government and intelligence services.

British MPs have voiced concerns over the US data company in light of the report.

“Palantir … is an organisation that the British government, in terms of the NHS, in terms of contracts, should stay very far away from … I think the Swiss army is right to be suspicious,” said the Labour MP Clive Lewis.

The government “needs to undertake transparent due diligence” on the conduct of Palantir and other big tech companies, said Rachael Maskell, the MP for York Central.

“I know there were certainly questions in the NHS about Palantir’s capabilities. It’s clearly been handed a lot of money to do the federated data platform. I, as a politician, want to know that these companies are making ethical choices. And if they’re not – whether around weaponry, minerals or the climate – I think we as parliament should be given greater transparency around this.”

  • Basic Glitch@sh.itjust.worksOP
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    9 days ago

    British MPs have voiced concerns over the US data company in light of the report.

    “Palantir … is an organisation that the British government, in terms of the NHS, in terms of contracts, should stay very far away from … I think the Swiss army is right to be suspicious,” said the Labour MP Clive Lewis.Jfc…

    Because until this report came out you had absolutely no way of knowing?

    I’m not sure what’s the real explanation here?

    Either the people who have been given enough power and control to make the final decision about partnering a government platform like the NHS with a private company like Palantir, really were just too fucking stupid to understand the repeated warnings and objections from the public about why it was such terrible fucking idea.

    Or, they just want people to believe they were really that fucking stupid now, because if not they’re just fucking evil shit bags who willingly ignored all the public warnings about why this was such terrible fucking idea.