Palantir: "I Want To Publicly Apologize To Progressive(s) In General, Mr. Greenwald In Particular"

[Hissyspit]

http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2011/02/11/palantir-apologizes-for-wikileaks-attack-proposal-cuts-ties-with-hbgary/

Palantir Apologizes For WikiLeaks Attack Proposal, Cuts Ties With HBGary

Feb. 11 2011 - 8:03 am

It’s been a long week for security firm HBGary. First the loose hacker group Anonymous retaliated against one of the firm’s employees investigating Anonymous by hacking into the corporation’s servers and spilling 50,000 emails onto the Web. Then a string of those stolen emails revealed a proposal by the firm and two others to launch a campaign of illegal cyberattacks and calculated misinformation against WikiLeaks and its supporters.

Now, just a few days later, one of those firms, Palo Alto-based Palantir, has publicly cut ties with HBGary and apologized for its role in the WikiLeaks response plan, essentially verifying the reality of that plan and isolating HBGary further.

In a statement to the press, Palantir chief executive Alex Carp writes, “I have directed the company to sever any and all contacts with HBGary.” Karp adds that “Palantir Technologies does not build software that is designed to allow private sector entities to obtain non-public information, engage in so-called ‘cyber attacks’ or take other offensive measures. I have made clear in no uncertain terms that Palantir Technologies will not be involved in such activities.”

On Thursday, the Tech Herald reported that hacked emails from HBGary revealed a PDF document outlining a proposal to Bank of America to sabotage WikiLeaks on multiple fronts, a response plan to what some believe may be a release of Bank of America’s internal documents by WikiLeaks in coming months. The PDF suggested launching cyberattacks on WikiLeaks servers, spreading misinformation about its insecurity, and even pressuring journalists who support the site, specifically focusing on Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com.

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[Major Hogwash]

1. Doubt if that will help them now.

Weak.
Really weak.

[xchrom]

2. interesting. i don't think anonymous is going to forget either

hbgary or B of A at this point.

[Ramulux]

3. This is serious shit

The corporations and government are going after Wikileaks and anyone who speaks out for them and they dont give a fuck about the law or common decency. Having this Palantir group come out and publicly apologize for being involved proves that this is real and coordinated. We are in real fucking trouble.

[chill_wind]

4. Emptywheel...

Somehow,Dr. Karp forgot to apologize to Brad Friedman, another journalist WBGary–in projects bid in partnership with Palantir–has targeted.

As a reminder, Palantir Technologies is one of the two other security firms that HBGary partnered with to try to get spying business with Bank of America and the Chamber of Commerce.

But perhaps more relevant is Palantir’s primary focus: working with the national security apparatus. They’ve done at least $6,378,332 in business with entities like SOCOM and FBI in the last several years. And while they say they have no plans to adopt “offensive cyber capabilities,” that’s not to say they’re not helping the government analyze data on our presumed enemies.

I would imagine Palantir has pretty good reason to know that the government will not do business with a contractor using the same technologies to target Glenn Greenwald (and maybe Brad Friedman).

At least not publicly. Remember–DOJ recommended Hunton & Williams (which put Palantir and HBGary together for the bid) to Bank of America.)

emptywheel Thursday February 10, 2011 8:23 pm
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/02/10/palantir-tries-to-preserve-their-government-contracts/

[suffragette]

6. Also left out ThinkProgress, SEIU, etc

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2011/02/palantir-sorry-for-anti-wikileaks-plan.html

Karp did not address similar claims made by a pro-labor organization called ThinkProgress accusing Palantir, Berico and HBGary Federal of preparing a proposal for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to discredit that group by getting it to rely on a false document that could later be exposed.




From http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/10/lobbyists-chamberleaks/

ThinkProgress has learned that a law firm representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the big business trade association representing ExxonMobil, AIG, and other major international corporations, is working with set of “private security” companies and lobbying firms to undermine their political opponents, including ThinkProgress, with a surreptitious sabotage campaign.

According to e-mails obtained by ThinkProgress, the Chamber hired the lobbying firm Hunton and Williams. Hunton And Williams’ attorney Richard Wyatt, who once represented Food Lion in its infamous lawsuit against ABC News, was hired by the Chamber in October of last year. To assist the Chamber, Wyatt and his associates, John Woods and Bob Quackenboss, solicited a set of private security firms — HBGary Federal, Palantir, and Berico Technologies (collectively called Team Themis) — to develop tactics for damaging progressive groups and labor unions, in particular ThinkProgress, the labor coalition called Change to Win, the SEIU, US Chamber Watch, and StopTheChamber.com.

According to one document prepared by Team Themis, the campaign included an entrapment project. The proposal called for first creating a “false document, perhaps highlighting periodical financial information,” to give to a progressive group opposing the Chamber, and then to subsequently expose the document as a fake to undermine the credibility of the Chamber’s opponents. In addition, the group proposed creating a “fake insider persona” to “generate communications” with Change to Win.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mike_c]

7. asshole always get religion after they get caught....

I'm not buying it. They're either complicit, or they utterly stupid for entering into a partnership without any clue about their partner's activities. In either case, they deserve whatever they get.

[Hissyspit]

8. Drat.

Missed the deleted sub-thread. :-) I was taking a nap.

[Scruffy1]

9. They all come to Jesus when they are caught.