[robertlagrant]

I was part of a UK company that did sovereign data work on NHS data. They would give NHS trusts equity in the company in return for the data, and the data wouldn't leave the company; only results of paid research studies. The idea was to lower the increasing cost of pharma studies through early data-driven work.

The company bid for this contract, and lost to Palantir. I still can't believe that a company trying to do this in exactly the right way lost to a US intelligence company.

[touristtam]

Is it really that surprising? The public would have voted to have the contract awarded to that company, but our benevolent leaders are usually sway by personal gain. This type of news is usually not widely and publicly discussed in the media as they are more concerned about much more trivial things or stocking fear and rage in the public.

[robertlagrant]

Well, it was surprising at the time. I agree that the public should care about this, and I'm glad the specifics of Palantir are helping bring the issue to light, but it was still very odd. I think non-technical leaders are seduced by words like "platform" and "low code" (at the time), as it makes it seems technical issues seem trivial, and converts them into vendor management tasks, which they know how to do.