Unwelcome Party at Palantir's New Denver HQ

Top photo courtesy American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

The American Friends Service Committee reports that Palantir Technologies designs mass surveillance tools for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct mass surveillance on immigrant communities and conduct workplace raids. Its data analysis system collects and organizes information about individuals and their connections from many sources, including license plate readers, law enforcement databases, facial recognition cameras, public records, email providers, credit card reports, employment and school records and social media postings.

In Denver, activists from the following groups came together for an unwelcoming protest at the new headquarters: AFSC and Coloradans for Immigrant Rights, Black Lives Matter 5280, Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, Colorado Jobs with Justice/Trabajos con Justicia, Communications Workers of America District 7, Denver DSA, Mijente, and Padres & Jóvenes Unidos.

Organizers of the Denver protest called Palantir "ICE’s technology backbone" and began planning protests as soon as they heard that the data-mining company would be moving to their state. On September 22, with banners, balloons, streamers and a piñata, organizers announced amidst their colorful protest, "We will not let Palantir profile our people and separate our families."

The Washington Post, Business Insider and other media sources reported on both this demonstration and the Goodbye/Good Riddance protest a day earlier in Palo Alto. Some analysts say that Palantir's initial public offering price of $10 per share on September 30 was less than it would have been without the adverse publicity that protests have generated.