Americans are being monitored more closely by private companies than by government, and should worry about that rather than a new "surveillance state," Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp told "The Axios Show."
Why it matters: Palantir, which sells software for AI-driven decisionmaking, has become a target for some in both parties who worry about a too-powerful government.
What he's saying: Karp said that for all the discourse around government surveillance, "no one seems to care" that "98%" of the actual day-to-day monitoring of Americans' activities is done by companies — often "because they want to sell us, like, cornflakes."
- "That's the reality of life in the West," Karp told Axios' Mike Allen. "That is where the problem is."
Friction point: Karp argued that "pattern of life" surveillance is necessary to track a suspected terrorist or pedophile.
- "If you expand that to normal citizens, that is surveillance of the kind that no one wants," he continued.
- Threading that needle requires "very, very precise tools."
- That, Karp suggested, is where Palantir comes in: "We are monetizing the fact that these decisions are difficult."
The intrigue: Karp also offered the more elaborate argument that if governments can't stop terrorist attacks now, they will trample more on civil liberties later.
- He said governments must go about stopping terrorists in such a way that "your right ... to meet someone you think is hot and go to bed with them is protected."
