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  3. The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

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palantiralexkarppeterthiel
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  • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

    The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

    #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

    A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

    What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

    Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

    And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

    Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

    Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

    These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

    In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

    But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

    After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

    We rejected this in its entirety.

    In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

    And now we see each other in court.

    But why all this?

    Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

    And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

    All of this is making Palantir nervous.

    We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

    We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

    In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

    World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

    The truth.

    All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

    We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

    Link Preview Image
    yugthebug@mastodon.socialY This user is from outside of this forum
    yugthebug@mastodon.socialY This user is from outside of this forum
    yugthebug@mastodon.social
    wrote last edited by
    #38

    @adfichter go girl

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

      The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

      #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

      A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

      What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

      Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

      And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

      Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

      Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

      These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

      In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

      But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

      After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

      We rejected this in its entirety.

      In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

      And now we see each other in court.

      But why all this?

      Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

      And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

      All of this is making Palantir nervous.

      We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

      We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

      In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

      World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

      The truth.

      All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

      We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

      Link Preview Image
      mcm_63@mastodon.unoM This user is from outside of this forum
      mcm_63@mastodon.unoM This user is from outside of this forum
      mcm_63@mastodon.uno
      wrote last edited by
      #39

      @adfichter 💪💪💪

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • katika@chaos.socialK katika@chaos.social

        @adfichter
        Stay strong!
        Only the good get sued
        You have a great project and maybe it'll wake some more people up

        They just have machines and money - we are more people and have reasons to fight

        #resistance #resist #republik #tech #antifascism

        jonas@social.violoncello.chJ This user is from outside of this forum
        jonas@social.violoncello.chJ This user is from outside of this forum
        jonas@social.violoncello.ch
        wrote last edited by
        #40

        @adfichter @Katika

        You'll grind Palantir until there is nothing left other than Streisand

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

          The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

          #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

          A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

          What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

          Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

          And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

          Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

          Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

          These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

          In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

          But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

          After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

          We rejected this in its entirety.

          In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

          And now we see each other in court.

          But why all this?

          Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

          And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

          All of this is making Palantir nervous.

          We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

          We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

          In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

          World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

          The truth.

          All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

          We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

          Link Preview Image
          a_cubed@mastodon.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
          a_cubed@mastodon.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
          a_cubed@mastodon.social
          wrote last edited by
          #41

          @adfichter @rene_mobile
          👍💪

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

            The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

            #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

            A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

            What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

            Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

            And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

            Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

            Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

            These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

            In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

            But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

            After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

            We rejected this in its entirety.

            In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

            And now we see each other in court.

            But why all this?

            Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

            And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

            All of this is making Palantir nervous.

            We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

            We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

            In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

            World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

            The truth.

            All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

            We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

            Link Preview Image
            iveyline@mastodon.nzI This user is from outside of this forum
            iveyline@mastodon.nzI This user is from outside of this forum
            iveyline@mastodon.nz
            wrote last edited by
            #42

            @adfichter Palantir is a company we should all fear. Stay strong and "beat the bully-boys" Every best wish for a successful outcome.

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • srtcd424@mas.toS srtcd424@mas.to

              @stefanct @dzu @OliverCzulo @adfichter something like a crowdfunder or similar for a fighting fund for this particular issue would be great, IMO?

              adfichter@infosec.exchangeA This user is from outside of this forum
              adfichter@infosec.exchangeA This user is from outside of this forum
              adfichter@infosec.exchange
              wrote last edited by
              #43

              @srtcd424 @stefanct @dzu @OliverCzulo we're working on a donation solution 🙂 thank you so much!

              oliverczulo@spd.socialO the_wub@mastodon.socialT 2 Replies Last reply
              0
              • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

                @srtcd424 @stefanct @dzu @OliverCzulo we're working on a donation solution 🙂 thank you so much!

                oliverczulo@spd.socialO This user is from outside of this forum
                oliverczulo@spd.socialO This user is from outside of this forum
                oliverczulo@spd.social
                wrote last edited by
                #44

                @adfichter @srtcd424 @stefanct @dzu Thank you! 🥳

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

                  The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

                  #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

                  A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

                  What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

                  Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

                  And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

                  Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

                  Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

                  These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

                  In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

                  But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

                  After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

                  We rejected this in its entirety.

                  In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

                  And now we see each other in court.

                  But why all this?

                  Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

                  And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

                  All of this is making Palantir nervous.

                  We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

                  We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

                  In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

                  World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

                  The truth.

                  All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

                  We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

                  Link Preview Image
                  nightdice@unfug.socialN This user is from outside of this forum
                  nightdice@unfug.socialN This user is from outside of this forum
                  nightdice@unfug.social
                  wrote last edited by
                  #45

                  @adfichter
                  Best of luck! I loved reading your research.
                  Is there any way we folks here can help? Donations, other?

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

                    The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

                    #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

                    A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

                    What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

                    Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

                    And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

                    Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

                    Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

                    These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

                    In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

                    But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

                    After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

                    We rejected this in its entirety.

                    In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

                    And now we see each other in court.

                    But why all this?

                    Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

                    And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

                    All of this is making Palantir nervous.

                    We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

                    We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

                    In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

                    World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

                    The truth.

                    All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

                    We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

                    Link Preview Image
                    stefan@akko.lightnovel-dungeon.deS This user is from outside of this forum
                    stefan@akko.lightnovel-dungeon.deS This user is from outside of this forum
                    stefan@akko.lightnovel-dungeon.de
                    wrote last edited by
                    #46
                    @adfichter Thank you for your service and fighting back against them!

                    Sadly not every state seems so adamant not buy palantir... *looking at you Landtag of Baden-Württemberg and especially the Greens*
                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

                      The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

                      #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

                      A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

                      What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

                      Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

                      And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

                      Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

                      Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

                      These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

                      In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

                      But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

                      After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

                      We rejected this in its entirety.

                      In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

                      And now we see each other in court.

                      But why all this?

                      Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

                      And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

                      All of this is making Palantir nervous.

                      We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

                      We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

                      In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

                      World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

                      The truth.

                      All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

                      We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

                      Link Preview Image
                      janikvonrotz@fosstodon.orgJ This user is from outside of this forum
                      janikvonrotz@fosstodon.orgJ This user is from outside of this forum
                      janikvonrotz@fosstodon.org
                      wrote last edited by
                      #47

                      @adfichter I hope we get a good David vs. Goliath example from this. Moreover, a playbook on how to defeat Palantir would be great.

                      What does this endavour mean financially wise? Does Republik need support at some point?

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

                        The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

                        #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

                        A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

                        What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

                        Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

                        And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

                        Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

                        Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

                        These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

                        In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

                        But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

                        After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

                        We rejected this in its entirety.

                        In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

                        And now we see each other in court.

                        But why all this?

                        Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

                        And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

                        All of this is making Palantir nervous.

                        We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

                        We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

                        In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

                        World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

                        The truth.

                        All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

                        We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

                        Link Preview Image
                        olivierburnier@mastodon.socialO This user is from outside of this forum
                        olivierburnier@mastodon.socialO This user is from outside of this forum
                        olivierburnier@mastodon.social
                        wrote last edited by
                        #48

                        @adfichter With the new revelations coming out about #PeterMandelson and #Palantir we can imagine that certain of the contracts signed by the UK government could be affected if not cancelled.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

                          The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

                          #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

                          A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

                          What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

                          Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

                          And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

                          Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

                          Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

                          These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

                          In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

                          But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

                          After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

                          We rejected this in its entirety.

                          In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

                          And now we see each other in court.

                          But why all this?

                          Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

                          And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

                          All of this is making Palantir nervous.

                          We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

                          We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

                          In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

                          World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

                          The truth.

                          All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

                          We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

                          Link Preview Image
                          mrmanor@social.data.coopM This user is from outside of this forum
                          mrmanor@social.data.coopM This user is from outside of this forum
                          mrmanor@social.data.coop
                          wrote last edited by
                          #49

                          @adfichter
                          Unfortunately many other European countries, including mine 🇩🇰, forges ahead and have implementeret Palantir in the police and military.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

                            @srtcd424 @stefanct @dzu @OliverCzulo we're working on a donation solution 🙂 thank you so much!

                            the_wub@mastodon.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                            the_wub@mastodon.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                            the_wub@mastodon.social
                            wrote last edited by
                            #50

                            @adfichter @srtcd424 @stefanct @dzu @OliverCzulo Anyone standing up against Palantir deserves my support.

                            Especially journalists who have done thorough research and created curated journalism.

                            So I have subscribed for now. It will be good for my German skills.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

                              The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

                              #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

                              A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

                              What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

                              Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

                              And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

                              Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

                              Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

                              These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

                              In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

                              But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

                              After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

                              We rejected this in its entirety.

                              In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

                              And now we see each other in court.

                              But why all this?

                              Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

                              And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

                              All of this is making Palantir nervous.

                              We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

                              We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

                              In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

                              World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

                              The truth.

                              All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

                              We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

                              Link Preview Image
                              achimkla@eupolicy.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
                              achimkla@eupolicy.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
                              achimkla@eupolicy.social
                              wrote last edited by
                              #51

                              @adfichter Regardless of the chances to win their court case, Palantir can now say (e.g. to investors and media) that they “reject the unfounded allegations of the Swiss media and are suing the originator in court“, and that as long as the court case can be dragged on.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

                                The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

                                #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

                                A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

                                What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

                                Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

                                And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

                                Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

                                Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

                                These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

                                In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

                                But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

                                After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

                                We rejected this in its entirety.

                                In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

                                And now we see each other in court.

                                But why all this?

                                Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

                                And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

                                All of this is making Palantir nervous.

                                We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

                                We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

                                In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

                                World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

                                The truth.

                                All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

                                We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

                                Link Preview Image
                                the_turtle@mastodon.sdf.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
                                the_turtle@mastodon.sdf.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
                                the_turtle@mastodon.sdf.org
                                wrote last edited by
                                #52

                                @adfichter in the meantime, they have these "blog" things now.

                                #getafuckingblog

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • dzu@hostsharing.coopD dzu@hostsharing.coop

                                  @OliverCzulo @adfichter That is easy to answer: https://shop.republik.ch/

                                  sebastiangallehr@norden.socialS This user is from outside of this forum
                                  sebastiangallehr@norden.socialS This user is from outside of this forum
                                  sebastiangallehr@norden.social
                                  wrote last edited by
                                  #53

                                  @dzu
                                  Schade. Hatte euch gerne unterstützt. Da kann ich aber nur mit einer klassischen Kreditkarte bezahlen. Habe ich aber nicht für das Konto, mit dem ich zahlen muss.
                                  Könnt ihr nicht SEPA oder #wero anbieten? Oder einen der anderen Zahlungsanbieter wie #liberapay bzw. Alternativen? (https://alternativeto.net/software/liberapay/)
                                  @OliverCzulo @adfichter

                                  adfichter@infosec.exchangeA 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • sebastiangallehr@norden.socialS sebastiangallehr@norden.social

                                    @dzu
                                    Schade. Hatte euch gerne unterstützt. Da kann ich aber nur mit einer klassischen Kreditkarte bezahlen. Habe ich aber nicht für das Konto, mit dem ich zahlen muss.
                                    Könnt ihr nicht SEPA oder #wero anbieten? Oder einen der anderen Zahlungsanbieter wie #liberapay bzw. Alternativen? (https://alternativeto.net/software/liberapay/)
                                    @OliverCzulo @adfichter

                                    adfichter@infosec.exchangeA This user is from outside of this forum
                                    adfichter@infosec.exchangeA This user is from outside of this forum
                                    adfichter@infosec.exchange
                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #54

                                    @SebastianGallehr Kontakt@republik.ch hilft dir da schnell weiter! @dzu @OliverCzulo

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

                                      The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

                                      #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

                                      A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

                                      What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

                                      Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

                                      And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

                                      Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

                                      Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

                                      These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

                                      In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

                                      But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

                                      After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

                                      We rejected this in its entirety.

                                      In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

                                      And now we see each other in court.

                                      But why all this?

                                      Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

                                      And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

                                      All of this is making Palantir nervous.

                                      We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

                                      We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

                                      In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

                                      World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

                                      The truth.

                                      All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

                                      We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

                                      Link Preview Image
                                      adamizcool@mastodon.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
                                      adamizcool@mastodon.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
                                      adamizcool@mastodon.social
                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #55

                                      @adfichter they are literally named after THE EVIL EYE FROM LOTR

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

                                        The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

                                        #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

                                        A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

                                        What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

                                        Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

                                        And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

                                        Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

                                        Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

                                        These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

                                        In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

                                        But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

                                        After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

                                        We rejected this in its entirety.

                                        In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

                                        And now we see each other in court.

                                        But why all this?

                                        Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

                                        And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

                                        All of this is making Palantir nervous.

                                        We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

                                        We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

                                        In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

                                        World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

                                        The truth.

                                        All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

                                        We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

                                        Link Preview Image
                                        rrustema@mastodon.socialR This user is from outside of this forum
                                        rrustema@mastodon.socialR This user is from outside of this forum
                                        rrustema@mastodon.social
                                        wrote last edited by
                                        #56

                                        @adfichter anything we can do to help?

                                        I read at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republik that Republik is modelled after @decorrespondent as a magazine.

                                        But another subscription for me is a bit too much. Also reading German slows me down.

                                        Is there some crowdfunding donation page? The more money for good journalism the better.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • adfichter@infosec.exchangeA adfichter@infosec.exchange

                                          The war waged by the tech authoritarian oligarchy against the media has reached a new level:

                                          #Palantir is suing us. Us, the Republik Magazin.

                                          A small Swiss media company, funded by readers, founded in 2018 and free of advertising. I am not aware of any other media company globally that Palantir is currently targeting so aggressively.

                                          What is this about? Together with my wonderful colleagues at the WAV research collective Jenny Steiner, Lorenz Naegeli, Marguerite Meyer, and Balz Oertli, we published a two-part series on Palantir's activities in Switzerland on December 8 and 9.

                                          Using an extensive corpus of documents – which we obtained thanks to the Freedom of Information Act – we were able to trace a sales campaign over a period of seven years. Palantir tried to get in with many federal authorities – and was rejected everywhere.

                                          And we also found out that the Swiss Army Staff evaluated the software and came to the conclusion that the army should refrain from using Palantir products.

                                          Among other risks, they feared that data would be passed on to the US authorities.

                                          Palantir is not just any company. ICE uses its products to hunt down migrants in the US. The Israeli army IDF uses the software in its Gaza offensive. The British health authority NHS has made itself dependent on the products for data analysis during the pandemic. And CEO #AlexKarp displays inhuman and aggressive rhetoric towards Europe, while the company itself advertises the “optimization of the kill chain.”

                                          These are all facts, repeatedly verified and published by renowned media outlets. Our research relating to Switzerland and Zurich is based on this.

                                          In addition to analyzing documents, we also spoke to various sources – including Palantir executives here in Zurich. The quotes used were presented to them and approved. Of course, we always adhered to the high standards of journalistic work. We conducted a thorough fact check before publication.

                                          But the company doesn't want us to write the truth.

                                          After the US company owned by right-wing tech billionaire #PeterThiel dedicated an absurd blog post to us, claiming some misinformation (such as that they had not participated in official tenders with the federal administration, a point we never claimed. On the contrary: we spoke from the outset of attempts to establish contact, sales talks, informal meetings, business as usual), after the Global Director of Privacy & Civil Liberties (PCL) Engineering and contact person for Swiss media Courtney Bowman launched personal attacks against us in LinkedIn comments between Christmas and New Year (“partisan fear-mongering”), Palantir's Swiss lawyers demanded a counterstatement on December 29.

                                          We rejected this in its entirety.

                                          In January, they demanded the same thing again. We rejected it again.

                                          And now we see each other in court.

                                          But why all this?

                                          Our research on the Swiss army report caused a huge international media response. The Guardian and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported on the Swiss army's rejection. Numerous financial portals and stock market magazines picked up our news (which could have consequences for the overvalued stock market company Palantir).

                                          And Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz presented our research to a huge audience at the renowned IT conference Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg at the end of December.

                                          All of this is making Palantir nervous.

                                          We have now submitted a comprehensive defense brief. We can substantiate all of our findings with several documents and publicly available media reports.

                                          We trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in this country.

                                          In keeping with yesterday's event “Zurich, little Big Tech City” at the Gessneralle, where we first announced this news exclusively to the audience on site:

                                          World politics will soon be negotiated in Zurich: freedom of the press, the facts about ICE, Trump, Israel, Karp, tech authoritarianism.

                                          The truth.

                                          All this at the Zurich Commercial Court.

                                          We will not be intimidated. And we will keep you informed.

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                                          rasmus91@fosstodon.orgR This user is from outside of this forum
                                          rasmus91@fosstodon.orgR This user is from outside of this forum
                                          rasmus91@fosstodon.org
                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #57

                                          @adfichter i find myself curios, in Denmark it's generally structured so that if you are sued, and win, the loser has to pay (within reason) the costs of the winners expenses.

                                          Is it the same in Switzerland?

                                          I know that the fact its not this way in the US is by and large what enables slap suits; you may be 100% sure you're going to win, but if you can afford the trial, that hardly matters very much.

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