The CIA is funding the development of software that’s used to track citizens using their personal data, and among the new clients are mega banks like JP Morgan Chase.
A new mainstream report from Forbes finds that the agency has financed a company called Palantir, which creates data mining programs that allow spies to sift through vast amounts of data and pinpoint individuals.
Forbes reports that the software has already been used to track down individuals, including Bin Laden and Mexican drug cartel members. The software can also track payments to their source, and Palantir is making it available to banks and other financial companies.
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| JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon |
CIA Funded Spying Makes Money for Billionaires
The CIA put up the money to start Palantir, which is run by a Dr. Strangelove-type character named Alex Karp. Karp lives and works in Silicon Valley and has a bodyguard with him wherever he goes. Karp owns around 10% of Palantir; other investors include PayPal and Facebook billionaire Peter Thiel.
Palantir is now worth several billion dollars, and it might soon go public.
Billionaires, it seems, are profiting from the military industrial complex’s assault on our privacy. Worse, the tools developed to spy on us by big government are now falling into the hands of big business. The result, as Anthony Gucciardi has reported, is corrupt corporations getting paid millions of dollars by US spying agencies to continue spying on as the US economy as a whole collapses.
From CIA to Corporations
When Palantir started, the CIA was its only customer, but now it is trying to sign up companies like JPMorgan Chase. The most disturbing customer is the New York Police Department. It isn’t clear what the police are doing with Palantir.
Forbes has exposed a dangerous relationship between the intelligence community and technology companies. One has to wonder how many of them are really funded by the CIA or NSA and what they do for Palantir.
Perhaps most disturbingly of all, Palantir actually plotted to launch a cyber attack on WikiLeaks. In other words, it tried to destroy a politically motivated group that has embarrassed the federal government on numerous occasions. The sinister culture in intelligence agencies that is threatening our privacy is beginning to corrupt the business community.
Congress needs to do its job and take a hard look at Palantir and its activities. Those who profit from the violation of our rights need to be held accountable.
