Palantir calls for balanced federal privacy law in RFI response

Investing.com -- Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) is urging U.S. lawmakers to craft a comprehensive federal data privacy and security law, arguing that fragmented regulation poses risks to civil liberties and hinders future governance of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence. In an April submission to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Privacy Working Group, the software firm outlined recommended definitions, consumer protections, and enforcement mechanisms designed to safeguard individual rights while enabling responsible innovation.

The company emphasized the importance of ensuring all Americans have rights to access and delete their personal information, regardless of which organization holds it. “Deletion is one of the most important remedies for violations of privacy,” Palantir wrote, adding that “we cannot stress enough the importance of holding organizations that process Americans’ most sensitive information to at least this bar.”

Palantir’s submission warned that ambiguities around terms such as “personal” and “sensitive personal” information could weaken future regulatory enforcement and technical compliance, particularly in areas like de-identification. The firm also stressed that disclosures about how and why consumer data is being collected must be specific, citing vague language like “general marketing” as insufficient for informed consent.

In proposing a practical model for implementation, Palantir backed a tiered compliance framework to account for the different capacities and risk profiles of companies. These protections, it said, should not be a zero-sum trade-off between consumer rights and business performance. “With the right technology, you can do both,” the company noted.

The response ties privacy governance to national AI strategy, suggesting that how lawmakers approach personal data regulation today will influence their ability to effectively regulate AI in the future. Palantir positioned its technology as enabling privacy-enhancing compliance across varying legal definitions and sectors, pointing to existing regulatory principles like the Fair Information Practice Principles as a foundation.

The company’s privacy policy submission comes amid renewed scrutiny of its federal contracts, following a May report from The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) alleging that Palantir is linked to efforts to centralize government data on American citizens. Palantir forcefully rejected the article’s claims, stating, “Palantir is not a vendor on any master database project… such a hypothetical project is fundamentally at odds with Palantir’s values.”

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