U.S. Accuses Tech Firm Palantir of Bias Against Asian Engineers

Jimi Swagger

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We some interesting interwebs comments stating Chinese engineers are plants in tech firms are insider threats and steal ip addresses by the usual suspects :mjpls:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/27/t...as-against-asian-software-engineers.html?_r=0

27palantir-master768.jpg

Palantir offices in Palo Alto, Calif. The Labor Department sued the tech company on Monday, claiming that it discriminated against Asians. CreditPeter DaSilva for The New York Times
SAN FRANCISCO — The United States Department of Labor sued Palantir Technologies, a prominent data analytics start-up, claiming systemic discrimination against Asian job applicants. The move again raises questions about diversity in Silicon Valley.

In its suit, filed on Monday, the Labor Department claimed that Palantir’s hiring processes for software engineering positions placed Asians at a disadvantage. Qualified Asian candidates were routinely eliminated during the résumé screening and telephone interview process, the government said. The company also relied on an employee referral system that favored non-Asian candidates.

Should the suit succeed, the Labor Department has asked for an order canceling all of Palantir’s current and future government contracts, which would include those with the F.B.I. and the United States Army.

“Federal contractors have an obligation to ensure that their hiring practices and policies are free of all forms of discrimination,” said Patricia A. Shiu, who is director of the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

In a statement, Palantir denied the allegations and said that it was disappointed with the suit. “The Department of Labor relies on a narrow and flawed statistical analysis relating to three job descriptions from 2010 to 2011,” the company said.

The suit is a reminder of how diversity issues have dogged Silicon Valley tech companies. In a series of disclosures over the last two years, tech companies including Google and Facebook have revealed how their work forces have skewed toward white males. Last March, Facebook was suedand accused of racial and gender discrimination; the suit was later dropped. In July, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a federal lawsuit that it was investigating accusations of age discrimination by Google.

The government’s suit against Palantir is unusual in that the claim focuses on discrimination exhibited against Asians, who have typically been better represented at many tech companies than African-Americans or Latinos.

The suit — and the proposed penalty — is a blow for Palantir, a company formed in 2004 and funded by well-known investors including Peter Thiel.

Since January 2010, Palantir has been a party to $340 million of federal government contracts, according to the Labor Department’s complaint. Palantir, which is privately valued at $20 billion, is on track to generate more than $1 billion in revenue this year; a large proportion of that sum comes from contracts with the Army, the C.I.A. and the F.B.I.

Palantir’s software has been credited with helping intelligence agencies find and kill Osama bin Laden. While Palantir now also counts state and local governments, financial firms and health care companies as clients, as a United States government contractor, it is subject to executive orders that prohibit hiring discrimination.

“It is rare to see such blatant and obvious discrimination in a federal complaint,” said Peter Romer-Friedman, a lawyer at Outten & Golden, a law firm that specializes in workplace fairness cases. “Not because discrimination isn’t common, but because companies usually make the business decision to go through the conciliation process and settle with the government.”

The government said it had tried to work with Palantir to resolve the claims before the process broke down. Two government divisions unsuccessfully tried to “secure Palantir’s voluntary compliance” with anti-discrimination laws, the suit said.

The government said Palantir’s behavior with Asian candidates included one example where software engineering jobs drew a pool of more than 1,160 qualified applicants. Of that number, 85 percent were Asian. Yet Palantir ultimately hired 11 Asian applicants and 14 non-Asian applicants.

“The likelihood that this result occurred according to chance is approximately one in 3.4 million,” the Labor Department said in its complaint.

After attempts at a settlement failed, the Labor Department filed a formal notice last October asking Palantir to show why the government should not begin enforcement proceedings related to its findings that the company had used discriminatory hiring processes.

A version of this article appears in print on September 27, 2016, on page B2 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Says Tech Start-Up Had Bias Against Asians. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

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JahFocus CS

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But but but the Coli told me that all other groups besides AA's were full of entrepreneurs who hire people with their same background and are "economically independent" :damn:
 
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But but but the Coli told me that all other groups besides AA's were full of entrepreneurs who hire people with their same background and are "economically independent" :damn:

They really do that though. I find it hugely hypocritical of them to want it both ways. What they are trying to do is monopolize the high-paying markets (silicon valley) due to their demographic advantage at that location. They will not return the favor as shown by how they helped vote to eliminate Affirmative Action at California Colleges.
 

ORDER_66

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How many black engineers and coders have this corporation hired???... :coffee: someone on the department of labor was paid off to investigate this, nothing in this country gets done without paying the right people off...

No one is that righteous anymore to fight for justice and get nothing in return for it... :francis:

This isnt the first time I've heard of this palanitr company... :jbhmm: I know I've heard of them before..
 

Red Shield

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They really do that though. I find it hugely hypocritical of them to want it both ways. What they are trying to do is monopolize the high-paying markets (silicon valley) due to their demographic advantage at that location. They will not return the favor as shown by how they helped vote to eliminate Affirmative Action at California Colleges.


That's what I always figured too. Doubt they would be able to do that tho
 

AYEKAY1

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They really do that though. I find it hugely hypocritical of them to want it both ways. What they are trying to do is monopolize the high-paying markets (silicon valley) due to their demographic advantage at that location. They will not return the favor as shown by how they helped vote to eliminate Affirmative Action at California Colleges.


well wouldn't that be because affirmative action actually hurts Asian Americans while helping White People still somehow?
 

EndDomination

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They really do that though. I find it hugely hypocritical of them to want it both ways. What they are trying to do is monopolize the high-paying markets (silicon valley) due to their demographic advantage at that location. They will not return the favor as shown by how they helped vote to eliminate Affirmative Action at California Colleges.
Who is "they?"
 
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well wouldn't that be because affirmative action actually hurts Asian Americans while helping White People still somehow?

Silicon Valley White people don't think most asian-americans (blacks either) can innovate technology that would justify the pay-rate.
They are thought of as maintainers of code or better yet reverse engineers of established tech.
It's true that entrance criteria for colleges largely shifted to GPA and that benefited Asian Americans.
In engineering though, GPA only matters for that first job and then it's what have you created/patented.
Another problem is that in California the Asians have a very bad reputation for academic dishonestly that works against them as you can see.
What Do Asian Americans Really Think About Affirmative Action?
 

AYEKAY1

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Silicon Valley White people don't think most asian-americans (blacks either) can innovate technology that would justify the pay-rate.
They are thought of as maintainers of code or better yet reverse engineers of established tech.
It's true that entrance criteria for colleges largely shifted to GPA and that benefited Asian Americans.
In engineering though, GPA only matters for that first job and then it's what have you created/patented.
Another problem is that in California the Asians have a very bad reputation for academic dishonestly that works against them as you can see.
What Do Asian Americans Really Think About Affirmative Action?


I think you're aiming at the wrong target my dude, Asians are taking collateral damage in all this while White man is still reaping the most benefits while they try to pit minorities against eachother once again. Not so much Asians being "academically dishonest" more than White people fukking us all over systematically once again.
 
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I think you're aiming at the wrong target my dude, Asians are taking collateral damage in all this while White man is still reaping the most benefits while they try to pit minorities against eachother once again. Not so much Asians being "academically dishonest" more than White people fukking us all over systematically once again.

Are you Asian?

White people discriminating is a given.

The Asians played their hand wrong period.

They thought they would get an economic advantage eliminating race-based admission to California colleges.

Only to cry when race isn't considered a factor for these high paying tech jobs. Hypocrites.

I then further broke it down about the stereotypes they face when they actually do get tech jobs.

They don't deserve the sympathy after fukking over other minorities. It's karma for them to reminded they are one too.
 

ORDER_66

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Are you Asian?

White people discriminating is a given.

The Asians played their hand wrong period.

They thought they would get an economic advantage eliminating race-based admission to California colleges.

Only to cry when race isn't considered a factor for these high paying tech jobs. Hypocrites.

I then further broke it down about the stereotypes they face when they actually do get tech jobs.

They don't deserve the sympathy.

With allthe money and connections why they want to work for others when they can build their own... :coffee:
 

GetInTheTruck

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I think you're aiming at the wrong target my dude, Asians are taking collateral damage in all this while White man is still reaping the most benefits while they try to pit minorities against eachother once again. Not so much Asians being "academically dishonest" more than White people fukking us all over systematically once again.

Don't lump Asians in with Blacks and Hispanics. It makes no sense at all.
 

AYEKAY1

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Are you Asian?

White people discriminating is a given.

The Asians played their hand wrong period.

They thought they would get an economic advantage eliminating race-based admission to California colleges.

Only to cry when race isn't considered a factor for these high paying tech jobs. Hypocrites.

I then further broke it down about the stereotypes they face when they actually do get tech jobs.

They don't deserve the sympathy after fukking over other minorities. It's karma for them to reminded they are one too.
Yes I'm Asian. and uh what? Asians didn't want to eliminate race based admission to colleges because of economic advantages, they rallied for that because they were being discriminated against during application processes. An Asian person with a much higher GPA would have less of a chance of getting in than even a white person with the same GPA. Now I understand how you could see that reasoning being "economic advantage" but we just don't like being fukked either alright?

You're kind of talking with a big paintbrush.
 
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