IRIN: Spies Sans Frontières?
“…The [software] tool, developed by secretive Silicon Valley firm Palantir, can be enlisted to tackle a range of humanitarian problems: from people trafficking and gun-running to stemming floods. It could revolutionize disaster coordination, management, and response. But the global aid community is wary. Palantir retains extremely close links to the U.S. security establishment, and the line between politics and humanitarian work is under constant attack and incrementally being pushed back. After a months-long investigation, IRIN can reveal how potential aid partners are spooked by these political and security connections and how a major deal with a key U.N. agency recently fell through because of them…” (Anyadike, 3/7).