Harry Halpin
Harry Halpin is a researcher whose work spans philosophy, artificial intelligence and privacy. He is co-founder and CEO of Nym Technologies, a privacy company. He wrote "The Anti-Palantir Manifesto", which appears in LAN Issue 1 as Issue 1/Anti-Palantir Manifesto.
Background
Halpin completed his PhD at the University of Edinburgh under Andy Clark. He did postdoctoral work with Bernard Stiegler. He is an affiliated researcher at the Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies (CLEA) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His more than 50 publications cover philosophy, artificial intelligence, big data, privacy, security and blockchain technology.
The Anti-Palantir Manifesto
On 18 April 2026 the data company Palantir posted a 22-point manifesto on X. Halpin answered with 22 counterpoints of his own. Nym published them on its blog on 23 April 2026 as "The Anti-Palantir Manifesto". Halpin says the text sets out his personal beliefs and not those of Nym.
His main points:
- Programmers who build the internet have a moral duty to the whole world.
- Surveillance justified by foreign threats ends up aimed at immigrants, dissidents and ordinary citizens.
- Laws and moral appeals alone cannot protect privacy. In his words, surveillance "can only be defeated by building software and hardware".
- Anonymity is a precondition of freedom. He opposes biometric digital ID and favours decentralised tools and voluntary communities.
- Technologists face a choice between building tools for control and building spaces for freedom.
See also
Sources
- The Anti-Palantir Manifesto, Harry Halpin, Nym, 23 April 2026
- Harry Halpin, Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
- 'Why we must fight Palantir': NymVPN CEO shares his anti-Palantir manifesto, Rene Millman, TechRadar, 24 April 2026