Post B2qnnmXty7YgOIQSFU by skiles@carhenge.club
(DIR) More posts by skiles@carhenge.club
(DIR) Post #B2qnmaiITXu7P6iiB6 by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:00:46Z
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A manual for ICE's immigrant-targeting computer system, Palantir ELITE, was leaked today.Let's look at it, then step back to evaluate how far we've come along a dangerous road and where that road might take us. 🧵https://www.404media.co/here-is-the-user-guide-for-elite-the-tool-palantir-made-for-ice/
(DIR) Post #B2qnmffI49TClELsga by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:06:00Z
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This thread is also available as a post on my blog:https://johnskinnerportfolio.com/blog/ice_elite/
(DIR) Post #B2qnmkiJILrAQ2nraS by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:06:55Z
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The app features gamified neighborhood maps, like Pokémon Go for hunting immigrants. Palantir warns the software is "not for mass prioritization of locations where lots of people it [ICE] might detain could be based."But this is what actually happens when you give ICE a map and a quota:
(DIR) Post #B2qnmpoWKgnMEkkOSe by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:11:11Z
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Dispatching ICE agents to hit "groups of pre-defined aliens specifically targeted by Leadership for action," the software allows the administration to order up a goon squad wherever they want, at the touch of a button.Like Uber for authoritarians. Let's call it repression as a service.
(DIR) Post #B2qnmv033FzGJxBAci by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:11:50Z
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To target a "criminal or immigration nexus" the software pulls Americans' personal data from across the government, including data from Health and Human Services and other agencies unrelated to law enforcement.How did ICE and Palantir get all this data together?
(DIR) Post #B2qnmztqpj07WBJn9s by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:13:26Z
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This leaked video of a presentation by DOGE at GSA headquarters 10 months ago outlines the plan. Couched as a part of their "AI strategy," Musk's people said they needed to scoop up all government data so AI could use it.https://bsky.app/profile/skiles.blue/post/3llxdvbsjik2n
(DIR) Post #B2qnn4XhZVFpuvzfpQ by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:13:52Z
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When we talk about DOGE stealing data, a lot of people picture a guy sneaking hard drives out under the cover of darkness. But that's not how you build a repression tool like ELITE. A hard drive is only a data snapshot; it will go out of date. Fascism needs a *continuous data connection*.
(DIR) Post #B2qnn9Wp2CWPNecXeS by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:14:57Z
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At the time of the GSA DOGE presentation I feared that the goal of this AI strategy was to make a continuous pushbutton repression system patterned on the metaphor of Palantir from LotR.https://bsky.app/profile/skiles.blue/post/3llxflpllgk2r
(DIR) Post #B2qnnETSe7nuig5Qbg by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:15:37Z
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A few days later, Wired reported that DOGE was building exactly this: cross-government data connections with Palantir — the literal company with that name, not just the metaphor.https://www.wired.com/story/palantir-doge-irs-mega-api-data/
(DIR) Post #B2qnnJWTsKBsNUXPVY by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:16:03Z
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As sure as walking off with hard drives is illegal, what DOGE did with Palantir is illegal. The laws they violated have boring names like the Antideficiency Act, the Privacy Act, and Federal Acquisition Regulation. These are laws the government used to enforce *on itself*. Not anymore.
(DIR) Post #B2qnnOsHyfbcyZmOh6 by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:17:16Z
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The theft isn't over. ICE thugs are now demanding state-level voter data at gunpoint. If they get that data, presumably, they will throw it into the mix with all the other stolen data available to repression as a service.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/26/pam-bondi-minnesota-voter-rolls-ice-surge
(DIR) Post #B2qnnTOLBRcYz8o3Cy by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:18:29Z
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Voter data unlocks the possibility of ICE targeting key polling precincts, swing districts, election officials or individual voters. ICE leadership could conceivably order voter repression up at any address, like an Uber.
(DIR) Post #B2qnnY4JnJZlUUTdC4 by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:19:06Z
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To avoid obviously targeting voters, another layer of data can be used to provide deniability, however flimsy. For example, IRS data could be used to map key voters who also owe back taxes.
(DIR) Post #B2qnncl0MY6822TmHg by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:20:25Z
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Something like this is already happening in Minneapolis where half-forgotten allegations of childcare funding fraud are the excuse for an occupation of the city.With enough data ICE could find similar justification anywhere. Simply ignore the "not for mass prioritization" warning label again.
(DIR) Post #B2qnnhNRBbDWMOUWkC by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:20:54Z
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My fellow civil servants would object that the order "find the 'nexus' of Democratic voters under tax audit" is illegal. But software need not raise these objections.Hence broligarchs dream of software allowing them to order up repression without pesky civil servants in the loop.
(DIR) Post #B2qnnmXty7YgOIQSFU by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:21:40Z
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At GSA we built an AI tool with safeguards against data consolidation to avoid violations exactly like these.https://johnskinnerportfolio.com/blog/GSAi/After firing the people who made it, DOGE rolled a version of it out all over government, including at DHS.
(DIR) Post #B2qnnrch5jMY8bhque by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:22:19Z
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Fascists quickly tire of safeguards. Three days ago the head of CISA (🤯!!!) got busted circumventing these safety measures, throwing sensitive government documents into the growing pile of privatized data.https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/27/cisa-madhu-gottumukkala-chatgpt-00749361
(DIR) Post #B2qnnwBw6dviJ4E3Oq by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:23:35Z
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In spite of their apparent enthusiasm for AI, the broligarchs within government seem to be giving up on boring, law-abiding internal AI tools like the one we built. They only want software that can dispatch goon squads.
(DIR) Post #B2qno0neyKTwbDuEkq by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:24:07Z
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I am not saying they will be able to build the fully automated repression tool of their dreams. Bureaucracy is largely made of humans who can't be wished away by men with a near-religious belief in AI and a delusionally negative view of government workers.
(DIR) Post #B2qno5Rrgn1F14kOye by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:24:30Z
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But consider how far they've already come. DOGE bros used AI tools to list thousands of "woke" "DEI" government grants for cancellation per Musk's conspiracy theories. Legitimate civil servants would have refused to compile such a list, but not AI.
(DIR) Post #B2qnoAMNQcbGFVDacK by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:24:58Z
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Takeaway:Any time the Trump administration says "AI" or anything about software or data, what you should hear is "repression as a service"This has 2 parts:1. AI as an excuse to consolidate data2. AI to execute orders that humans would refuse
(DIR) Post #B2qnoEqejzCIAZPpMu by skiles@carhenge.club
2026-01-31T03:25:25Z
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Neither part is complete, yet. Of the repression machine that I feared 10 months ago, the administration has implemented to only to a midpoint. The more data they consolidate, the further we travel down this dangerous road.