How Palantir Is Mapping Everyone’s Data For The Government

The idea that the government possesses infinite amounts of data about its citizens is not exactly new. Since the advent of the Internet and digitalisation, it has become predictable that these resources would be used to accumulate as much information as possible about the most relevant sectors: and what sector is more relevant than the “business” of its own people?

The US company Palantir Technologies, which specialises in big data analysis, has long been one of the US government's greatest allies. Palantir's two flagship products are Foundry, used by private sector companies to facilitate global operations, and Gotham, a “global decision-making operating system” used primarily by governments.

The latter has proven to be a valuable resource for law enforcement, national security agencies and public health departments, given its investigative nature. It is, in fact, capable of collecting all the data already in a subject's possession, then breaking it down into its smallest elements and connecting the dots. This functionality transforms countless disconnected archives into a single and, above all, searchable web.