Setting the Record Straight on the Peter Thiel Protest at UC Berkeley

The CounterForce article contains errors, is off-message, and also delayed the release of any actual statement from the organizers of the protest, who were stuck trying to figure out why someone had posted an article with disinformation and taking claim for a protest they did not organize. A sense of confusion and desire to take things slow set in, after seeing the article which attempts to co-opt the protest and the message of the protest. The CounterForce article is unfortunately being linked to on social media, which is just spreading disinformation even more.

There are certain problems with the tonality of the CounterForce article which do not match the intended sentiments of the organizers of the protest or the direct supporters of the organizers of the protest. Any statement about the disruption of Peter Thiel's talk would not have mentioned alcohol use, vandalism or looting. The protest was not organized under the influence of alcohol, and was not led by persons who were drunk. The protest was not led by or organized or directly supported by anyone who committed vandalism later that night. To suggest so, puts the actual organizers and direct supports at risk for investigation and possible arrest for crimes they did not commit. The looting that occurred at T-mobile was not part of the protest against Peter Thiel. It would have been preferred to not have an image of looting attached to the article about the disruption of Thiel, because it was not directly related and it distracts from the purpose of the disruption. Any looting that occurred was it's own action, and the personal choice of people who did so. (Looting in Manhattan, NY in 1977 led to the creation of DJ crews. Hopefully the looting in Berkeley during 2014 will lead to some creative output.)

The mentions of alcohol, vandalism and looting did cause confusion... as if perhaps the CounterForce article was posted for the purposes of discrediting those who did organize and directly support the protest against Thiel. Or the CounterForce article could have been the result of the brashness of its author(s). Either way, the CounterForce article did cause confusion and concern.

Any statement about the disruption would not have spoken ill about the members of the crowd (such as "that seemed to shut them up") or made assumptions about the crowd (such as "19 years old straight out of the suburban McMansion"). A statement about the protest would have tried to reach out to the people who were there in the room, as to better explain the purpose of the action. The protest was to educate, not to alienate or personally degrade the members of the audience. It is true members of the crowd said things that were inappropriate and crass, but their attitude is a symptom of a greater social problem on UC Berkeley campus: the racial disparity amongst EECS (Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences). Black Americans are greatly misrepresented; for the most part Berkeley EECS is missing the perspective, input and history of Black America. The engineering advisory board at UC Berkeley has no Black members. The number of black professors teaching computer science can be counted on one hand with fingers to spare. In American society, there is a technology gap that divides Black Americans from the White population and quote-unquote "Model Minorities" (apologies if the term offends some). Even when it comes to basic internet access, Black Americans fall behind other minorities and White Americans. The culture at Berkeley EECS is a reflection of under-representation of Black students, faculty and advisers.

Peter Thiel was a founding funder of Palantir, a surveillance company whose software is used by police agencies disproportionately against people of color, particularly the Black community. While it is true we are all under a surveillance state, some are under more surveillance than others. A direct local example of local surveillance through Palantir's software is the license plate database accessed by Californian police agencies. Palantir is also a supporting corporation in the 100 Resilient Cities initiative, of which Berkeley and Oakland are members, as well as San Francisco and Los Angeles. Local policing networks are gaining access to surveillance and data mining software that was developed from ties to the CIA's In-Q-Tel and DARPA's 'Total Information Awareness'.

Palantir's ties to DARPA gives the protest a level of direct relevance to UC Berkeley. The dean of UC Berkeley's college of Engineering was Director of Information Technology at DARPA from late 1999 to early 2001. The current head of DARPA, Arati Prabhakar, held simultaneous positions on UC Berkeley's College of Engineering Advisory Board and DARPA's Defense Sciences Research Council. (Prabhakar has since left the advisory board.)

Government agencies, private contractors such as Palantir, and research institutions, have been developing technology that is being used to perpetuate mass surveillance. Despite advancements in surveillance and data analysis, the technology is not being used to bring accountability to police forces. Data mining could reveal to internal affairs and local government officials any overlap between members of police forces and members of extremist groups. Data analysis could help recognize falsified reports. Surveillance and data mining could help identify members of police forces that have committed criminal acts, and help prosecute members of police forces that are accused of crimes. The surveillance industry is not trending towards monitoring those in position of power and those who enforce the laws. The surveillance industry is not working towards police accountability and true justice. Instead, the trend is for surveillance technology to be directed at the governed.

It is unfortunate that the CounterForce article appeared on Indybay, because it did miss the tone of the protest is some aspects, and conflated the protest against Thiel with other acts that occurred over the course of the night which had nothing to do with the disruption at Wheeler. There really is no way to know if the CounterForce article was intentionally written to contain misinformation, or if it was just brash writing. The article could not be left ignored; it needed to be responded to as it is being linked to on social networks.

Mainstream media articles regarding the protest have also made appearances in different venues. Many mainstream media organizations that mentioned the protest of Peter Thiel did not mention his ties to Palantir, instead choosing to note his ties to PayPal and investment in Facebook. CBS San Francisco (CBS 5) article only noted Thiel's ties to PayPal. Business Insider's article did not mention any company in relation to Thiel. Without mentioning Palantir, these news articles don't give their readers context between Thiel, surveillance and the Ferguson protests occurring all over the country. On CNBC news, SquawkBox co-host Joe Kernan did mention Palantir, but only to say that the company was named for a Lord of the Rings reference, not to explain controversy over Palantir's work. Joe Kernan editorialized to say that Peter Thiel was a genius. The SquawkBox co-host stated that Thiel is a lighting-rod for protests because he is libertarian and openly gay, but Thiel's sexual orientation had nothing to do with protest at Berkeley, nor did his political association. (It is worth wondering however, how Thiel squares Libertarian values with investments in mass surveillance.)

Palantir has information sessions and promotional events on UC Berkeley campus every semester; they want to recruit Berkeley students. The protest against Peter Thiel was meant to address the culture at Berkeley EECS, both in terms of racial disparity and in terms of the UC's relations to surveillance corporations and government agencies. The protest against Thiel was also to raise concerns over the growing surveillance industry, and to bring awareness to the disproportionate use of surveillance technology by police agencies on Black communities. Edward Snowden said that his "greatest fear regarding the outcome for America is nothing will be done and people won't fight to change things". Advancements in information technology should be used towards the purposes of democracy and social justice. There are innovations that could be used to catch and prosecute members of police agencies that veer from the law, and bring true accountability to our system of law and order. However, surveillance and data mining technology is used on journalists who report on abuses by government agencies and their contractors -- surveillance is used against social rights protesters -- and surveillance is used as part of a system of policing that Black communities and their allies are rallying across the country to change.