2013: Palantir, no! Does the EU have the strength to stand by its values?

1. Real Situation in 2013: Surveillance as a Tool of Power

I had already written my second book, „The Trillion Dollar Gap“. In an excerpt from the fictional story „QX – Island in Jezioro Kisajno“, I wrote: „The Quadrilla is to decide who should be promoted or eliminated.“ With this, I wanted to show that surveillance does not serve to protect citizens but rather to exercise power in secret—without democratic legitimacy.

By 2013, the stage was already set for Europe’s later dependence on US surveillance tools like Palantir. The EU relied on centralized databases and automated analyses without sufficiently examining the risks of dependencies or their compatibility with European data protection standards. In December 2013, the Advocate General at the ECJ, Pedro Cruz Villalón, classified data retention as disproportionate and in violation of fundamental rights—a clear signal that the EU was wavering between security and fundamental rights. Yet instead of consistently upholding its values, it gave in.

2. Development Without Obstruction: AI Designed Democratically from the Outset

If I had not been forced to abandon my search engine patent from 1999 due to persecution, this technology could have actively shaped the discussion around AI and data sovereignty. The Finder algorithm uses the smallest meaningful unit, which is firmly linked to categories. This makes manipulation more difficult, as like-minded individuals from the same category automatically receive new entries for evaluation. Every AI learns from training data. The category framework trains the AI to allow different perspectives in various societal areas, thereby also training ethics. The genuine interest of evaluators in generating high-quality data significantly improves the quality of AI outputs.

The question is: Does the state want to deny its citizens digital participation? Scalable business models of gatekeepers aim only at power—not at societal added value. A productive digital activity for all must be a fundamental right. Those who are included do not boycott, are less likely to fall ill, and incur fewer social costs. Transforming social costs into participation payments would be an economic gain: High-quality data improves AI outputs and reduces frictional losses in digital transformation.

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