What does Palantir do? “integrate[s] disparate data sets and conduct[s] rich, multifaceted analysis across the entire range of data.”
How does NYC use it? Tax fraud, fire code violations, fake security guards, fake IDs, fake cigarettes, fake marijuana.
So the data already existed in NYC databases and the crimes they're enforcing already existed.
And yet: "the potential for that kind of outright abuse is less disturbing than the ways in which Palantir’s tech is already being used. The city’s embrace of Palantir, outside of law enforcement, has quietly ushered in an era of civil surveillance so ubiquitous as to be invisible." -- total hyperbole!
If anything the most telling part of this article to me, was the small sums of money being made by Palantir which is frequently lauded as one of the most elite, selective startups for software engineering positions. It seems to operate in small change relative to all the hype.