A complicated software telling cops where to start looking for suspects - what could possibly go wrong?
Political and racial profiling as-a-service.
> I hope police are able to use data within reason
...how? You either trust the software and follow the "insights" or not.
>> "Palantir’s customers must rely on software that only the company itself can secure, upgrade, and maintain." > This is a weird thing to include. Were they hoping for open source?
In most countries the whole legal/judicial system is designed to be fully transparent and thoroughly auditable to ensure fairness and impartiality.
Even at the cost of having a lengthy, expensive (for the tax payers) and sometimes ineffective process. History shows that quick and cheap justice is no justice.
Do you see the problem with having closed source software telling cops which person / neighborhood / company investigate first?
For everyone's sake, I hope police are able to use data within reason to do their jobs better. That will either involve police depts getting smarter about spending on/using software, Palantir getting more user-friendly, or a company focused on doing this well specifically for police departments disrupting Palantir... all of these are good things which I hope happen in due time.
Also,
> "Palantir’s customers must rely on software that only the company itself can secure, upgrade, and maintain."
This is a weird thing to include. Were they hoping for open source?