28 Comments
User's avatar
Michael Wallace's avatar

One wonders where Palantir's tech is at in their attempt to link all of the data together.

I also cannot stress that being tracked on a list for attending protests - which is a first amendment right - is incredibly comcerning. Attending protests and posting disagreements online are not crimes.

But what do I know, I'm probably on those lists. 🤷

Lori's avatar

Sometimes I wonder if all the tech isn't also to "disappear" some data as it's aggregating. This just keeps getting worse

Ardon's avatar

Amazing work and thank you. That’s why I subscribe.

Ken Klippenstein's avatar

Glad you find it helpful!!

John's avatar

Likewise Ken. Keep it coming.

Aidan Ryan's avatar

exactly

Chris D's avatar

Oh they can go fuck themselves. This country is going in the shitter.

John Smith's avatar

Add the fact that AI is constantly dead wrong, it sets up a potential Josef K. kafkaesque scenario for virtually anyone.

John's avatar

You are very right John. Some interesting facts about US firms building surveillance tech for China. One thing that stood out to me was when AI was wrong it didn't matter much.

https://apnews.com/article/chinese-surveillance-silicon-valley-uyghurs-tech-xinjiang-a80904158b771a14d5a734947f28d71b

Claire Phillips's avatar

I am guessing anyone on Substack liking posts such as this are on the "slipstream" list, but what do I know? Slipstream is a trope in science fiction, which makes this all very meta.

Joy in HK fiFP's avatar

Doncha mean the Klipstream?

Shawn Williams's avatar

If you ever used your constitutional rights to speak, write and soon think about politics, you are on a list. I am, you are, etc. All it does is lets them link a nasty note about Israel, Epstein, Maga, to a blurry shot of your face at a protest (or anywhere near a city where one happened).

Before you know it they've got all your digital habits, porn history, buried edgy tweets and threads, downloaded apps, etc. And masked men who write their own warrants can execute you.

Its all the dystopia, it's all the Asimovs and Bradburys and all the Machiavellis and all Sodom and Gomorrahs and all the Pharisees are at the top. If you want to know what life was like WHEN the Bible was written because you follow Dr Bart Ehrman or Dan McClellan this is just the Sci fi version of that.

Your bones will be crushed into filament for data centers.

The tea is already in the harbor. Do you understand folks? Any knock could be yours. White, left, right, wrong, disabled, the god fearing and the god cursing.

Remember, all this power being harbored by the state is forever. Remind your loves ones who still don't understand, if anyone half as competent as Biden is ever elected again, their trials and worse will be state sanctioned just the same as yours. Same camps. Diabetics in rural America, get into shape and into the factories or you might as well start packing for the detention centers too. PHDs, former Jeopardy Champions, NBA players, anyone who got their own, anyone who never had a chance to get their own.

You ain't a billionaire and you do not have a seat at the table. Not today tomorrow or in the afterlife. Die of a new outbreak of measles in your small house or die of starvation or asphyxiatoon in a camp. Some of us got a head start, the less lucky ones are already buried somewhere in the TX desert.

Klarity's avatar

Imagine if the DOJ put this expense and effort into the Epstein / Trump / Maxwell files! 😡 Oh wait, surveilling, harassing, abusing, and murdering US citizens and immigrants is just a way to distract from an international child sex trafficking ring headed by Donald’s best friend and the billionaire fascist takeover of our government.

Vernon Brechin's avatar

Many MAGA cultists have been convinced that it is an asset to immerse themselves in echo chambers that reinforce their preferred worldview while rejecting all other views as being part of a vast conspiracy enterprise. Never forget that there are benefits that come with such positioning. One is a sense of community with others who also find comfort in being ‘so special.’

Discount Gentleman's avatar

Thank you, this is incredibly important reporting, and it is insanely dangerous to have the government maintain watchlists of Americans suspected of <whatever they want>. I feel like one detail gets buried here:

“...but ever since January 6, not only have we expanded exponentially into purely domestic watchlisting, but we have also created a highly secretive and compartmented superstructure that few even understand,” says a DHS attorney intimately familiar with the subject.

This was started after January 6, i.e. under the Biden Administration. In this (as in so much else), the Biden Administration was undermining the rule of law (domestically and internationally) and empowering authoritarianism. Trump's fascist took the tools that Biden's people handed them.

Von Verstehen Nothing's avatar

That’s it, that’s the moment the machine gains life and people who supposed to control it were just following orders.

A favorite Nuremberg defense.

“Lists of this and that—this social media post, that video taken of someone videoing ICE, the mere attendance at a protest—gets pulsed by federal cops on the beat to check for criminality but eventually just becomes a list itself of criminality, with the cops thinking that indeed they are dealing with criminals and terrorists.”

Jessica Panettieri's avatar

Hi Ken Klippenstein! I have tried asking a few other times, and it's quite possible you can't comment on this for reasons of journalistic integrity, but if they have all of these watchlists and databases, is it possible they also have lists of the people on these lists that are licensed gun owners? It seems logical, to me, that if they're concerning themselves with people who even raise their voices at ICE, that they would definitely want to know which of those people could be carrying a gun. The rapidity with which the attack on Alex Pretti escalated to seven men jumping him, to one man seemingly approaching while they had him on his knees to remove Alex's gun and run off with it, to they immediately opened fire on Alex, it all seems, at best, like they have a protocol in place in cases where someone is armed to, at worst, they knew Alex would be there and be armed. And that they are looking to make examples of people so they can use them as a guise for weakening Second Amendment rights. This seems particularly plausible, given that we learned recently that Alex Pretti had been assaulted by ICE just a week before his murder, and was treated for a broken rib. Anyway, this has been bugging me, and my neurodiverse propensity for pattern recognition just cannot let it go. Thanks so much for the work that you do, and stay safe!! And it's ok if you can't comment on this, I just needed to ask. Again.

Ken Klippenstein's avatar

I honestly don't know. There's so much secrecy inherent in these watchlist efforts that it's hard to surmise much

Jessica Panettieri's avatar

Well, thank you for your response! I'm not typically given towards conspiracy theorizing, it just seems weird how none of the officers seemed surprised that Alex had a gun, nor did there appear to be any discussion about disarming him before the grey jacket guy ran up and took the gun and ran off. I will keep watching what happens, but I never thought I would see a bunch of Republicans disregard the Second Amendment so quickly, so it's something to think about! For me, I mean, I don't have to report on facts. I really appreciate (and am always impressed by) your tenacity and ability to get insiders to talk to you! You have a trustworthy face 😊

SAM's avatar

damn near every day, i think back to 9/11 and the 25 years of civil liberty erosion we've endured in the name of "national security".

Emma's avatar

"run by DHS"- is that verbatim?

Emma's avatar

"Run by" is different than "used by". I doubt she is lying, though that she managed to spit out a sentence that wasn't a lie is medal worthy.

James Norris's avatar

Consider the correlation with sex offense registration.

James Norris's avatar

The registry is a beta program that is being upscaled and expanded to other groups.

kathy's avatar

I would like this to be part of whatever congressional hearings that need to be taking place as they fight to NOT FUND homeland security anymore. There are other companies like Deloitte that have been helping them with developing tracking systems.. I saw they have a contract for the tracking of the children they are taking ..I know that is different but looking at the contracts they have given out you can see all the consulting firms involved in this crap and are paying for his ballroom. !

Brent Bartels's avatar

You're killing it out there! I've heard your name dropped more times than I can count by pundits/commentators in the last few weeks. Keep up the good work.