Hacker News Recap January 25th, 2026 | ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data
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Jan 26, 2026 Government use of a Palantir tool that ingests Medicaid data and the privacy questions it raises. A management science paper with huge citation counts but major methodological issues. Deutsche Telekom’s bandwidth throttling and net neutrality concerns. A study tying EV adoption to air quality improvements. A macOS app that blurs your screen when you slouch.
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Medicaid Data Powers ICE Surveillance
- ICE uses Palantir to merge Medicaid and other records into comprehensive profiles of individuals.
- That integration raises privacy risks and potential for wrongful scrutiny of Medicaid recipients.
Citation Momentum Can Amplify Flawed Research
- A widely cited management paper contains methodological flaws yet influenced thousands of works.
- Citation momentum can propagate weak science into practice and policy.
Throttling Balances Congestion Versus Fairness
- Deutsche Telekom throttles bandwidth by identifying and slowing high-usage traffic.
- Throttling trades overall network stability for fairness and raises net neutrality concerns.