Police departments across the U.S. are now using Palantir Gotham, software originally designed for intelligence agencies, to collect and analyze massive amounts of civilian data. With a single search (a name, license plate, or phone number), officers can access or infer: • Past addresses and known associates • Vehicle movements via license-plate readers • Photos, tattoos, scars, arrests, and field interviews • Social media and financial data when obtained or subpoenaed • Algorithmic “risk scores” based on patterns, not convictions It’s sold as crime-fighting. But in practice, it creates centralized digital profiles of millions of Americans, many of whom have never been charged with a crime, often with little public oversight or transparency. And here’s the truth history keeps teaching us: Once this kind of system exists, it never shrinks. It only expands. History has a name for infrastructures like this.