🆕 blog!

[walrus@toot.wales]

@Edent

Perhaps Palantir have given Streeting a big lump of money, and told him they don't like open source?

[numodular@c.im]

@Edent Even with the recent Copy Fail exploit being revealed, this is an extreme measure, to put it mildly.

#FOSS #Linux

[andrewnez@mastodon.social]

@Edent good thing they are all archived in @swheritage https://archive.softwareheritage.org/browse/search/?q=GitHub.com%2Fnhse&with_visit=true&with_content=true

[dan@m.danq.me]

@Edent I don't see anything in the article about writing to your MP.

But I've done so anyway. And echoed your concerns at https://danq.me/nhs-england-rushes-to-hide-software-over-ai-hacking-fears

[reggiehere@mastodon.social]

@Walrus

An overly-cynical take maybe, but open source and open data was heavily promoted at a time when public sector data and code was largely locked away in organisational silos.

Today, alongside open repositories, those assets reside on US-owned cloud platforms (accessible under the Cloud Act) and is routinely shared with analytics specialists like Palantir under contract

If those actors already have access then there is some monopoly benefit in denying access to everyone else.

@Edent

[q@glauca.space]

@Edent although I no longer live in the UK, as a citizen I still elect my MP, so later today I will write to them about it

[edent@mastodon.social]

@q Much appreciated!

[otfrom@functional.cafe]

@Edent is this something where non English MPs would still be able to help as it will be devolved?

[edent@mastodon.social]

@otfrom I do not know. Health is devolved but, on some matters, they do take the lead from their colleagues in England.
I suggest writing to both your MP and MSP

[edent@mastodon.social]

@Walrus conspiratorial thinking rarely helps. You can peruse his entry in the Register of Members' Interests if you want to look for evidence.

The truth is likely to be much less exciting - I suspect a manager somewhere has gotten spooked & thinks this will help.

[nicol@social.coop]

“There are thousands of NHS repositories on GitHub. The work undertaken to assess all of them and then close them will be massive. And for what?”

“Even if we ignore the impracticality of closing all the code - it is too late! All that code has already been slurped up. If Mythos really is the ultimate hacker, hiding the code now does nothing. It has likely already retained copies of the repositories.”
”And if it were both practical and effective to hide source code - that doesn't matter. These AI tools are just as effective against closed-source. They can analyse binaries and probe websites with ease.”
“There are tens of thousands of NHS website pages which refer to their GitHub repos - will they all need to be updated? What's the cost of that?”

@Edent

[nicol@social.coop]

“I've no idea what led to NHS England making this retrograde decision - so I've send a Freedom of Information request to find out.
I am convinced that closing all their excellent open source work is the wrong move for the NHS. I hope they see sense and reverse course.”
“Until then, I've helped make sure that every single NHS repository has been backed up and, because the software licence permits it, can be re-published if the original is closed.”
@Edent

[otfrom@functional.cafe]

@Edent I'll see what I can do. I'll have some new MSPs next week

[ninestonesclose@mastodon.social]

@Edent this will be the Palantir influence. Disgraceful and sad.

[npars01@mstdn.social]

@Edent

#TranslatedFromTheRepublican

"NHS sides with Trump billionaires to increase dependency on ghouls like Peter Thiel, despite national security risks & associations with Jeffrey Epstein.

National Security Vulnerabilities deliberately promoted."

What is Palantir? The US analytics firm behind the £330m NHS data platform

The US data analytics company plays a central role in the NHS’s £330 million Federated Data Platform

The Independent (www.independent.co.uk)

Labour and Lib Dem MPs demand ‘shameful’ Palantir NHS contract be scrapped

Spy-tech company and founder Peter Thiel should ‘have their hands ripped off our NHS’, say MPs

the Guardian (www.theguardian.com)

Palantir defends its record as MP demands more scrutiny of data use

NHS guidance that all hospitals should be using Palantir software from this month has sparked a backlash.

(www.bbc.com)

https://www.ft.com/content/1ac7a046-329c-4036-b01e-f2291dde28ca
https://archive.ph/rFIqN

Alarm in health service over Palantir staff being given NHS email accounts

Exclusive: Sources believe AI tech company’s engineers have been granted access to directory of up to 1.5m staff

the Guardian (www.theguardian.com)

Cautionary Tale: Trump orders access denials
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/feb/18/international-criminal-court-icc-judges-trump-sanctions

The networker: Microsoft shutting down email accounts of ...

The commercial interests of US tech giants have fused with the country’s national interests. We’re about to find out what ‘digital sovereignty’ really means

The Observer (observer.co.uk)

[edent@mastodon.social]

@NineStonesClose no. This is about source code and security. Not datasets.

[edent@mastodon.social]

@Npars01 I'm not a Republican.
This isn't about access to data. It is about source code security.

[npars01@mstdn.social]

@Edent

Forgive my snarky remarks.

My hashtag isn't directed at your post but at the public officials fostering these policies of obsequious compliance.

The moneyed interests behind deliberate source code insecurity policies have their own agenda.

Security of data and data sovereignty are threats to those interests.

[ninestonesclose@mastodon.social]

@Edent true, but I do wonder what influence they are having on other areas now their evil foot is in the door. Still very sad to see this, it’s a shame that open source is not even more valued in these times.

[edent@mastodon.social]

@NineStonesClose as I say in the post, you should write to your MP about the matter. Let them know how you feel about it.