𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐝

🇬🇧 𝗪𝗲’𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗮𝘄𝘀𝘂𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗰𝗸’𝘀 £𝟮𝟯𝗺 𝗡𝗛𝗦 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿
𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘄.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘄

𝗕𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝗶𝘁𝘇𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱
𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗶 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿
𝟯𝟬 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭, 𝟴.𝟱𝟴𝗮𝗺

We shouldn’t have had to go to court. For a year, we’ve been fighting legal battles over the British government’s secretive NHS data deals with controversial ‘spy tech’ firm Palantir.

Today, we can announce an important victory.

Back in December, after we had spent months on legal efforts to get transparency, the government snuck through a massive £23m, two-year deal with Palantir, a CIA-backed data firm. They contracted Palantir to process our sensitive health data.

We raised objections: the initial deals were framed as a short-term, emergency COVID response, but the new contract revealed mission creep well beyond the pandemic.

Government lawyers insisted that citizens have no right to a say in major NHS contracts with big tech. But we believed the public does have those rights. So we sued.

Facing our lawsuit, the government has finally caved. They’ve pressed pause, committing not to extend Palantir’s contract beyond COVID without consulting the public. There will be no more mission creep without assessing our rights. They have also agreed to engage the public, via patient juries, about whether firms like Palantir are appropriate for a long-term role in the NHS at all.

It’s a major U-turn at a critical moment. The NHS, with its unique trove of structured health data, is powerfully attractive to tech corporations. Palantir and other US tech firms clearly stand to profit from managing or accessing this asset, estimated to be worth £10bn a year.

The NHS datastore is the largest pool of private health data in NHS history, and that raises questions too important to be settled in secret deals.

Should it survive the pandemic? On what terms? Should Palantir manage it, or are there more trustworthy alternatives?

Our fight has been about trust. Palantir was founded by a Trump-backing billionaire called Peter Thiel. The firm has a deep and controversial history with US police, and has recently landed a new contract supporting UK border enforcement.
Amid concerns over COVID vaccine hesitancy in some Black and minority ethnic communities and among migrants, trust in health services is vital. A long-term role for Palantir in the NHS risks eroding trust in key communities right when the government needs it most.

There are many more battles to fight. We still need full transparency on the Palantir deal: the government continues to refuse to lift key redactions on what data is being fed into Palantir’s datastore. We need to know that the public consultation they’ve promised is far-reaching, not just a box-ticking exercise.

We also need to fully understand and debate Matt Hancock’s long-term plans for our NHS. Our case was launched amid a major proposed shake-up of laws governing the NHS and its patient data. Proposals in the government’s recent white paper for health and social care would centralise NHS control under Matt Hancock, and could prepare the ground for larger slices of the NHS – including its £10bn/year health data assets – to be contracted to private tech firms.

Who will this brave new world benefit? We have successfully defended the public’s right to be heard before major NHS data deals are signed with large tech firms. It’s now on all of us to speak up if we want our future NHS to serve patients, not profit.

🔗 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲: 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆

🔗𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄, 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲👇👇 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲:
@Truth_Awakening_Channel
𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝.🤝🥰✌💏

openDemocracy

We’ve won our lawsuit over Matt Hancock’s £23m NHS data deal with Palantir

And here’s what needs to happen now

612 viewsDeanne Santini, 16:19