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The Anti-Palantir Manifesto

https://nym.com/blog/anti-palantir-manifesto
72•eustoria•1h ago

Comments

john-h-k•40m ago
I had high expectations, there’s a lot of interesting content in this topic, but this is 22 points of low-substance buzzwording.

There’s no common theme, very little justification of any of the claims, and frankly very little to do with palantir

drcongo•33m ago
I found it to have just enough substance to make me take a look at what Nym VPN is, because I'd rather not give money to Mullvad any more, but the VPN looks like something for shilling crypto.
esseph•26m ago
> because I'd rather not give money to Mullvad any more

?????? Why?

markasoftware•22m ago
Nym is pretty complicated and although they offer some kind of traditional VPN service as well IIRC, their main product is actually the only large scale operational "mixnet", which you can think of as kinda similar to Tor but a lot more resistant to certain types of deanonymization attacks (specifically it's designed to be safe against passive global adversaries, ie an attacker who can monitor every packet on the internet, though with the default settings at least it's not quite there yet: https://petsymposium.org/popets/2026/popets-2026-0055.php).

The research behind the mixnet is quite legit (look up Loopix). There's cryptocurrency involved because they're trying to do this whole complicated thing to incentivize people to operate nodes in the mixnet (though who are we kidding, the real reason is to make money). One can argue this is good for the long term sustainability of the network, and helps prevent sybil attacks by encouraging a large number of legitimate nodes. Of course, the downside is that the company is trying to make money, not just make the best mixnet possible. Having a profit motive also means they're incentivized to get the network to a point where interactive usage works well even at the price of anonymity (an optimization in this vein is sorta the reason that the paper I linked above is possible).

But having a working mixnet at all is extremely cool. People have been researching mixnets for decades without producing anything practical. While Nym is by far the most deployed / most ready mixnet rn, there thankfully are other options coming up, like https://katzenpost.network/ (though I believe most of the devs behind Katzenpost are also in some VC-funded situation, they certainly at least are trying to position katzenpost as more of a community driven project).

trollbridge•10m ago
The best thing about AI is how it’s pulled the rug out from under most of the crypto shilling universe.
smalltorch•25m ago
Why can't you see the common theme?

The internet is going to turn into a control mechanism if we don't equalize the power dynamic and build things that make it easy to empower the individual.

Build for the common man, not the vampire.

andsoitis•18m ago
> The internet is going to turn into a control mechanism if we don't equalize the power dynamic and build things that make it easy to empower the individual.

What does that have to do with Palantir?

lenerdenator•28m ago
> 19. America created the first global surveillance state, but it will not be the last. Too many have forgotten, or perhaps taken for granted, the revelations of Wikileaks and Snowden. States across the world from China to Russia are creating even more powerful global surveillance systems and propaganda machines. Leveraging private defense contracts in countries across the world, Palantir seeks to make itself the operating system of a cross-border global secret state while it pushes its own farcical version of ethno-nationalism.

If you're honestly thinking the US surveillance state is used to the same extent that those in China and Russia are to act upon enemies of the state at home and abroad, it makes me take you less seriously.

Could it be? Absolutely. Would Alex Karp gladly direct his company to program it even if it imprisoned/killed his own family for the benefit of shareholders? Probably. But when SCOTUS just told the government this week that they need warrants for geofenced surveillance operations, this doesn't point to the existence of a surveillance state like that in those nations. At least, not yet.

mattnewton•13m ago
How hot does the water need to be before you raise the alarm?

I think there is value in pointing out trend lines and voicing opposition even if there are other countries that have more authoritarian views on speech. This is not a competition, what matters is the experience of the people in the country today not the fact that if they moved to Russia it would be worse. What is important is that the US state has both gained capabilities to act that way, and has shown predilections for it.

Texas just gave a man 30 years for transporting zines because of the politics of those zines. The trend lines are potentially very bad. And it only gets harder to reverse if the concerned people are right; would you just say “I don’t think it can happen here” and have people wait until it does and delay talking about it until we are not allowed?

lenerdenator•4m ago
The alarm's been raised for a while now.

You have to hold elected and appointed leaders to account.

That means going to a voting site on each and every election day (I don't care if it's for dog catcher and only dog catcher) and voting even if candidates aren't perfect. It means making it clear that the three boxes of liberty will be used by the people to make sure that their rights are protected.

In the US, we still have some ability to do what I mentioned. There just doesn't seem to be any will to do it.

helloplanets•25m ago
> These are my personal beliefs, not those of Nym.

Why are you posting this on your company's site, littered with ads for the company's product?

Post it on a personal blog, or just say that these indeed are the company's beliefs.

andsoitis•16m ago
Because he is selling VPN. This is an advertorial, including using techniques like “darkened” image of the adversary to make them look like a villain.
cenobyte•21m ago
Europe and Asia have it much much worse than we do on the surveillance state.

Ask anyone in jail for social media posts in the UK.

Ask any Chinese citizen about their social score and how it's adjusted.

So this sounds like an Anti-American and Anti-Palantir rant.

jo4329j5•17m ago
Congratulations. You're a what-about-er.

Instead of "this is bad, let's fix it" you say "that other thing is worse so let's leave this the way it is (I'm profiting from it or, even more pathetic, I wish I could profit from it)".

hnhg•13m ago
You might want to update yourself on what's happening in the USA too - 'Zine publisher sentenced to 50 years in prison for "material support to terrorists"':

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jun/...

hashmap•12m ago
It has anti-palantir in the title, so, yes it is anti-palantir. That's the point. What about it seems anti-american though? The values this page opposes don't look like anything america was ever supposed to be about, and certainly aren't the values of anyone I respect. Even if this page is trying to do right by the entire world, it is about as american as it gets; to invoke the Commonwealth of Virginia's since 1776, thus always to tyrants.
YouWhy•14m ago
I wonder what is the contextualization of the OP's preference of the "Palantir as a data/power broker" narrative to that of "Palantir as a highly profitable staffing agency".
davepeck•13m ago
My strong feeling while reading this “philosopher CEO”’s manifesto: you run a consumer VPN company. Your work primarily helps customers fight for their right to stream Netflix. It might be good to touch some grass.
trollbridge•11m ago
I assume any such VPN keeps logs on me and turns them over to information brokers and ultimately the state.
Lendal•13m ago
> 5. Surveillance can only be defeated by building software and hardware to defend ourselves.

Here's where it went off the rails. Once you've abandoned the idea of democracy and peaceful self-governance, you're just another technofascist. You are Palantir, just in an earlier stage.

bko•12m ago
The fear of an imminent surveillance state just rings so hollow to me. It used to appeal to me as an existential threat, but then real world experience made me realize how implausible this is, not due to technological limitations but political will.

We already have surveillance states. Walk into any chain drug store in the country and you'll be met with cameras tracking your every movement, deodorant under lock and key and a security guard at the door. You walk in and the overseers know who you are and track your every move.

However, people walk in to drug stores every day and walk out with stuff. They're often unmasked and repeat offenders. The drug store chain gladly hands over all identifying information to police as well as their patterns. Yet nothing happens.

People comment on forums exactly how and where scams take place. YouTubers bait car and package thieves within hours. Whenever a horrific crime occurs, 9 times out of 10 the perpetrator has had dozens of arrests.

> The “enemy within” continually expands until it encompasses the entire population of a nation regardless of their status and beliefs, justifying evermore paranoid and totalizing surveillance.

So the police doesn't go after known criminals who have been arrested for the umpteenth time, but I'm made to believe they're about to come after me any day now for my innocuous offense, they just need one more Palantir camera.

Be real, there's just no political will to enable a police state.

So now on to technology. Technology should make our lives better. Police should use it to capture and stop the 1% of the population that's making life much more difficult for the rest of us. And they should lock them up for a considerable amount of time, not as rehabilitation or punishment, just to make the lives of ~99% of us better off. Maybe not 3 strikes, but can we settle on 10? 20? Anything would help.

So these theoretical arguments about a surveillance state where some hypothetical political dissident is getting doxed and raided just strikes me as fantasy.

spencerflem•9m ago
Haha I think we have a different idea of which 1% is making life miserable
bko•6m ago
underdeserver•8m ago
> "most of our current rulers are degenerate pedophiles"

This guy is not a serious person.

camillomiller•5m ago
You might have missed the Epstein files. Rings a bell?
camillomiller•7m ago
>> Unlike the generations that fought in the world wars, most of our current rulers are degenerate pedophiles who would sacrifice the well-being of the youth and the entire planet due to their infantile desire for wealth and power. Technologies of surveillance and automated warfare reflect their increasingly desperate attempts to maintain archaic forms of domination.

Tell us what you think, Harry, please don’t hold back

gos9•6m ago
Blogger has thoughts. World continues to spin.
trollbridge•6m ago
The book “IBM and the Holocaust” is instructive here.

These are simply tools, AI and surveillance tools included.

Tools can and are used for evil.

Some tools are much easier to use for evil. Tabulating and data processing is one of them. It makes conducting mass scale atrocity a lot easier.

I don't remember Elon Musk breaking into my garage and stealing my bike. But you never know, they never caught the guy.
natebc•4m ago
it's not your bike that he stole.
ecto•7m ago
All of your arguments are broad, baseless, and trivially disprovable.

There absolutely is political will to enable a police state, and history absolutely rhymes.

bko•4m ago
> trivially disprovable

Then disprove it.

Here's some data around catch and release:

Among persons admitted to state prison in 2014 across 34 states, 77% had five or more prior arrests in their criminal history, including the arrest that resulted in their prison sentence.

About half of persons admitted in 2014 were released by the end of 2015. Among these released persons, over half (59%) were arrested at least once within 2 years, including 16% for a violent offense. Forty-two percent were arrested for a public order offense within 2 years of release, making it the most common arrest offense for the 2014 admission cohort.

The number of prisoners that have had 15 or more prior arrests is over 26%

https://mleverything.substack.com/p/acceptance-of-crime-is-a...

spacedoutman•5m ago
Ever wonder why they let those criminals seemingly get away with it?

Think one extra step ahead.

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