NHS apologises and admits Palantir have access to identifiable patient data (publictechnology.net)

Now the deed is done, one cannot undo it.

Many years ago I had a job offer in UK and a friend who was already living there who was very keen on me moving there.

Honestly every single time there is news about UK, I am glad I didn't take the offer.

Then again, me being already not very enthusiastic about the place had a role in my decision.

>In all cases they do not have permission to use the data for their own purposes

Oh, they don't have permission? probably fine then.

This is insanely fucked up, but also unsurprising.

Is Palantir obsessed with medical records? If so why?

This is worrying as there recently was a change in the Japanese PII law, relatively unceremoniously passed and enacted, that reclassify mass PII collection including medical data collection as anonymous and consent-free with the condition that anonymization is performed after collection, which, IMO, IANAL, completely nullify the PII law. I can easily "see" Palantir behind it with my tinfoil hat on, but I'm not sure why do anyone want it in the first place. I don't think they need medical data specifically to take people to the back and dispose of the body.

So, what is going to happen now? Someone in the UK government goes "ooops, sorry" and Palantir gets to keep access to this data? Or are we just going to have another 10 year long enquiry of how exactly this happened that leads to no consequences for anyone while US company siphons up our personal info, again?

"Whoops sorrgy! Your honor, I plead silly :3c"

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Wow this was moved fast off the frontpage! Now on page 3 after 50min. Just FYI.

LRB had a great article about Palantir and the NHS in their latest issue. [1] What I mostly enjoyed reading is the insight that their actual software is quite "rubbish", something I have seen people mention in discussions here, especially in the early years of Palantir before it became more notorious and well-known. I do believe the "evil company" is part of their marketing to cover up that they are your usual proprietary software with a shitty UI and expensive contract that is being sold to clueless upper management.

[1] https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n13/peter-geoghegan-and-...

Oh well, at least they apologised.

Palantir: The Japanese Knot Weed of technology.