Firm Involved In Planning Attack On Journalist Glenn Greenwald To Hurt Wikileaks Apologizes; Cuts Ties With HBGary Federal
from the fallout dept
Yesterday we had the news of how HBGary Federal -- the firm whose CEO claimed he had "infiltrated" the non-group's leadership and identified who ran the non-group (which doesn't actually have "leaders" in the traditional sense) -- had been exposed for planning a propaganda attack on Wikileaks at the request of some lawyers working with Bank of America (and, it turns out, recommended by the Justice Department). Part of the strategy was to somehow put a tremendous amount of pressure on Salon writer Glenn Greenwald to stop his support of Wikileaks. Exactly how that was to work was not entirely explained.However, the Tech Herald, which broke the original story, has now spoken with the CEO of Palantir Technologies, one of the two other companies that HBGary Federal had teamed up with in this proposal. Dr. Alex Karp, who is both the co-founder and CEO of Palantir, seems to be genuinely sorry about the whole ordeal, saying he told his firm to cut all ties with HBGary Federal, and issuing an apology to Greenwald.
"The right to free speech and the right to privacy are critical to a flourishing democracy. From its inception, Palantir Technologies has supported these ideals and demonstrated a commitment to building software that protects privacy and civil liberties. Furthermore, personally and on behalf of the entire company, I want to publicly apologize to progressive organizations in general, and Mr. Greenwald in particular, for any involvement that we may have had in these matters."Meanwhile, HBGary Federal apparently remains pretty quiet...
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: apologies, glenn greenwald, wikileaks
Companies: hbgary federal, palantir technologies, wikileaks
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
That's not an apology
If you don't admit wrongdoing, you haven't apologized. Good for them for cutting ties with the other firm, but that doesn't count as an apology.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
HBGary is silent
Who would believe anything they say now?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: HBGary is silent
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
HBGary is silent
I find this very funny: https://twitter.com/aaronbarr
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
An object lesson in the evils of secrecy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Glenn Greenwald
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Glenn Greenwald
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
An object lesson in the evils of secrecy
Palantir is an object lesson in the evils of secrecy. They got involved with government agencies that cloak themselves in secrecy, justified or not. I think the involvement put Palantir on a slippery slope when it comes to the ethics of their actions. They were clearly willing to do more under the cover of secrecy than they would do without the secrecy.
Secrecy, especially the compartmentalized-knowledge, institutionalized variety favored by the US Government almost inevitably leads to abuses we all later regret.
And just to do a bit of lightening rod action, "palantir" is a word from J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" books. Essentially, it's a crystal ball. In the Lord of the Rings, people used them for remote viewing and communications. The idea of a crystal ball is clearly public domain, but is the word "palantir" itself? Perhaps "Palantir Technologies" is a copyright infringer, a.k.a. "pirate". In which case, it would be no surprise that they'd do regrettably unethical things.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Translation
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Good choice of company name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palant%C3%ADr
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Good choice of company name
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Good choice of company name
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Um, hell no
Bah, sorry for the rant, but this shit is just getting out of hand, and we're letting it pass by with barely a blink. Something's really wrong.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
1. Pressure Glenn Greenwald.
2. ???
3. Profit!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Aaron Barr retreats
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
so sincere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4PGBSptYCI
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Palantir is GENUINELY sorry??
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
New term proposal: "ABd" or "AB" someone or thing
Now, of course there will be a need for another term if it turns out that instead of getting ABd, HBGary Federal actually setup an elaborate honey trap and was expecting this. Slim chance, given the fallout, but stranger things have happened.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: New term proposal: "ABd" or "AB" someone or thing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
New term proposal: "ABd" or "AB" someone or thing
Now, of course there will be a need for another term if it turns out that instead of getting ABd, HBGary Federal actually setup an elaborate honey trap and was expecting this. Slim chance, given the fallout, but stranger things have happened.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
How the hell did that get up twice?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: How the hell did that get up twice?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]