NHS facing legal action from tech activists over patient data deal with Silicon Valley firm Palantir which has been linked to surveillance agencies

The NHS is facing a ‘cronyism’  legal challenge over its decision to hand a data contract to a Silicon Valley tech firm.

Activist group Foxglove said it was taking action over the health service’s link-up with Palantir.

It wants a review of a £23.5million contract between NHS England and the Denver-based firm firm to handle sensitive information first agreed in March and extended in December. 

Palantir has attracted criticism from civil liberties groups who say its software — used by government surveillance agencies around the world — helped US officials track down illegal immigrants. 

It is the latest claim that cronyism played a role in the handing out of contracts worth millions at the height of the pandemic to people with links to the Conservative Party. 

The legal case includes the claim that the NHS failed to do a ‘Data Protection Impact Assessment’ when it extended the contract in December. 

Foxglove’s founder Cori Crider told the Open Democracy website Palantir had spend a year ‘lobbying top UK and NHS officials, courting them in London, San Francisco and Davos – over dinner and watermelon cocktails’. 

Activist group Foxglove said it was taking action over the health service’s link-up with Palantir.

Foxglove’s founder Cori Crider (left, in 2018) told the Open Democracy website Palantir had spend a year ‘lobbying top UK and NHS officials, courting them in London, San Francisco and Davos – over dinner and watermelon cocktails’.

‘We’re taking the government to court because, right before Christmas, they quietly gave this CIA-backed firm a major, long-term role in handling our personal health information, and in England’s cherished National Health Service,’ she said.

‘The government claimed the initial Palantir ‘datastore’ deal, signed last March, was a short-term, emergency response to the pandemic. 

‘But December’s new, two-year contract reaches far beyond COVID: to Brexit, general business planning and much more.’

Palantir is controversial because it made surveillance software that the US Government used to track down illegal immigrants so it could deport them.

Its technology can harvest personal information about people and has been harshly criticised by civil liberty campaigners for breaching the public’s right to privacy.   

The company has been described as one that ‘knows everything about you’ by Bloomberg, and its software is used by government surveillance agencies around the world for spying purposes.

It is able to link official information such as medical records or driving licences to social media profiles and to track people’s activity. 

The US Department of Health and Human Services uses Palantir to detect Medicare fraud, the FBI uses it in criminal probes, and the Department of Homeland Security deploys it to screen air travelers and keep tabs on immigrants. 

The company is already in the crosshairs of activists and could attract additional scrutiny for its potential use in the UK’s Test and Trace system.   

The company was contracted by the NHS to work on a Covid ‘data store’. The computer dashboard manages the distribution of PPE and other medical equipment between UK hospitals to make sure they have what they need to deal with the coronavirus crisis. 

But privacy campaigners have criticised the lack of transparency around the contracting process.

Privacy International, Big Brother Watch, medConfidential, Foxglove and Open Rights Group sent Palantir 10 questions about their work with the NHS during the public health crisis, and published them on the Privacy InternationaI website in April. 

Ms Crider added: ‘The government has a legal duty to consult us, citizens and NHS users, before they strike massive deals which affect that future. In doing so, they need to take important steps (like conducting ‘data protection impact assessments’) to ensure our health information and our rights are protected. 

‘They haven’t done this for the Palantir datastore: that’s why we’re bringing this case.’

An NHS spokesman said: ‘The company is an accredited supplier to the UK public sector, the NHS completed a Data Protection Impact Assessment in April 2020, and an update will be published in due course.’

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