> I think this is position is a bit naive. Like saying "but child porn is just bits, like any other type of file".
Everything has a domain it operates in, so I believe that statement has nuance. In particular when you look at how general or specific the domain is.
From the perspective of something uploaded to S3? It sure is like any other file.
From the perspective of a website dedicated to the dissemination of child porn? It clearly is more than "just bits" in that context.
How about from the perspective of a search engine, where that site may be indexed? Welcome to the grey area that all of these debates are rooted in. Technically it's just indexed strings or ngrams, so it is like any other type of file. But there's an argument that a search engine should "know more" than just the raw data, and should be able to understand that context somehow.
Palantir is in this grey area. The software isn't built for spying. It's built for managing and understanding vast amounts of data. Can this be used for spying? Yes. It can also be used for double blind clinical trials. Or maintaining insurance systems. Or coordinating disaster relief efforts.
It operates technologically in a very general domain, but their flexible user-defined ontology makes it very powerful at operating in more specific domains. So it's a lot less cut and dry than the dissenters make it seem, IMHO.
Everything has a domain it operates in, so I believe that statement has nuance. In particular when you look at how general or specific the domain is.
From the perspective of something uploaded to S3? It sure is like any other file.
From the perspective of a website dedicated to the dissemination of child porn? It clearly is more than "just bits" in that context.
How about from the perspective of a search engine, where that site may be indexed? Welcome to the grey area that all of these debates are rooted in. Technically it's just indexed strings or ngrams, so it is like any other type of file. But there's an argument that a search engine should "know more" than just the raw data, and should be able to understand that context somehow.
Palantir is in this grey area. The software isn't built for spying. It's built for managing and understanding vast amounts of data. Can this be used for spying? Yes. It can also be used for double blind clinical trials. Or maintaining insurance systems. Or coordinating disaster relief efforts.
It operates technologically in a very general domain, but their flexible user-defined ontology makes it very powerful at operating in more specific domains. So it's a lot less cut and dry than the dissenters make it seem, IMHO.