NHS England aims to build a COVID-19 data store aggregating all of its patient data. Neural’s Thomas Macaulay wrote about the original deal here, where he explained: Originally, the non-compete contract was framed in language that made it seem like Palantir would be figuring out simple logistics such as how many beds and ventilators the UK would need. But the scope of the project has apparently changed. According to New Statesmen editor Oscar Williams, who first broke the news yesterday, Palantir will be doing a lot more analysis than initially indicated. Williams writes: [Read: Trump’s paid Peter Thiel’s Palantir $1.5B so far to build ICE’s mass-surveillance network] Quick take: Despite the fact that the UK and Palantir have promised the company would give back the data once it was done, this seems just as sketchy as the company’s dealings in the US. Data can be copied and “anonymized” can mean a lot of different things. This should bother anyone who doesn’t completely trust US president Donald Trump, Palantir and Faculty, and the Boris Johnson-led UK government. Furthermore, Palantir just received a contract with the US Department of Health and Human Services worth $17.4 million to conduct similar work for the Trump administration. Coupled with the fact that President Trump just extricated the US from the WHO and subsequently took the US Center for Disease Control out of the nation’s COVID-19 data sourcing, it appears as though the UK is attempting to emulate the US’s success at dealing with the pandemic.
— Carol Rose (@CroseCarol) July 16, 2020 Good luck with that. Wear a mask.
