"All Gun licences to be digitised under new Palantir deal to run national firearms database"

[bogtrotter]

Once upon a time every six months or a year you would take a copy of your MoT, insurance and vehicle registration and stand in a queue at the post office, and then would fill in a round piece of paper with holes in its edge and stamp with an official stamp, and you would pay your licence fee. You would then go to your car and carefully tear out that disk of paper and then using a magic sticky thing then try and attach it to your car windscreen where it would stay in place on a wet rainy day your windscreen all got misted up and you had to open the windows and wipe all the condensation off and of course knocking the important little bit of paper out of window into the car slipstream and for it never to be seen again.

You will then have to go and find the receipt for the bit of paper, and go down to the post office to get another one.

These days it takes Mrs Heym less than five minutes on her iphone to renew her car tax.

And as for passports with first having to go and get passport photos…..

I still go to the post office to renew mine.

 

[Heym SR20]

It’s not the going digital, that is inevitable. It’s who has been given the contract that is the problem

Couldn’t disagree with you. I think we should be much more like the Europeans and be turning our backs on all this US tech. Surely we have the skills our side of pond to build and implement such a database.

 

[Kentish]

Palantir don’t make customer service software. If that’s what they were building they would have probably used capita or someone. From what I can see online, digitising the actual application process doesn’t seem to be in scope. Palantir capabilities are in integrating and synthesising huge volumes of real time data (as @MightyPlank points out, total overkill for a database with a few million records in it). While we might benefit from some efficiency and a slightly quicker service if they e.g. integrate medial records to remove the need for medical proformas being given to GPs etc., the real reason for involving palantir in this is (vs Accenture or the other bidder) would be to provide real time analysis of risk presented by firearms owners. Currently this might only be picked up reactively at renewal, but their aim will be to flag immediately to your local force if anything amiss is detected across all of government data and doubtless a range of other 3rd party sources.

 

[timbrayford]

Palantir don’t make customer service software. If that’s what they were building they would have probably used capita or someone. From what I can see online, digitising the actual application process doesn’t seem to be in scope. Palantir capabilities are in integrating and synthesising huge volumes of real time data (as @MightyPlank points out, total overkill for a database with a few million records in it). While we might benefit from some efficiency and a slightly quicker service if they e.g. integrate medial records to remove the need for medical proformas being given to GPs etc., the real reason for involving palantir in this is (vs Accenture or the other bidder) would be to provide real time analysis of risk presented by firearms owners. Currently this might only be picked up reactively at renewal, but their aim will be to flag immediately to your local force if anything amiss is detected across all of government data and doubtless a range of other 3rd party sources.

Real time analysis is fine with me, that would have flagged up the guy with the fake certificate in Oxford, but the absolute limitation will be the lack of any statutory requirement on FLDs in respect of using professionally qualified staff competent in the task of firearms licensing adminstration.

 

[Jelen]

Needs to happen, but Palantir definitely should not be involved.

Why do you say that? Several Health trusts have trialled Palentir and the results were very good.

 

[udderlyoffroad]

A lot of people posting on this thread - mostly, it has to be said, in people who think words ending in ‘y’ can be pluralised through use of an apostrophe - are clearly unaware that the system (NFLMS) has been digitised since the mid 2000s and is now in need of replacement.

That’s not to say there aren’t concerns about the direction of travel of the government. But given the details of the contract haven’t been made public, it’s very much speculative to say x or y will happen as a result of this contact being awarded.

 

[nf-fuse]

How long before it gets hacked

 

[B&W FOX]

How long before it gets hacked

We'll be fine as long as its not linked to Guntrader

 

[Sinistral]

A lot of people posting on this thread - mostly, it has to be said, in people who think words ending in ‘y’ can be pluralised through use of an apostrophe - are clearly unaware that the system (NFLMS) has been digitised since the mid 2000s and is now in need of replacement.

That’s not to say there aren’t concerns about the direction of travel of the government. But given the details of the contract haven’t been made public, it’s very much speculative to say x or y will happen as a result of this contact being awarded.

I'd certainly agree about the standard of English, and would add the pathetic 'phone pics that are seen.

Here's the official tender from the Home Office with the details:-

https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/051257-2026

 

[Kentish]

The tender docs don’t go into a lot of detail but the scope is to allow forces to record the grant of licences, not to facilitate it. So whatever the current application process is for a particular force is, that continues, but the results are recorded in the new palantir system instead of the legacy NFLMS

Real time analysis is fine with me, that would have flagged up the guy with the fake certificate in Oxford, but the absolute limitation will be the lack of any statutory requirement on FLDs in respect of using professionally qualified staff competent in the task of firearms licensing adminstration.

Risk analysis on a database of firearms owners doesn’t flag risks from people who aren’t on the database; the problem palantir solves is the guy in Plymouth, not the guy in Oxford

 

[Sol]

Unless you don’t have a PC or similar

Almost every public library has computers too use for reasons like this.

 

[Ceres]

Definitely not against digitisation, but giving Palantir yet more of our personal data to surveil us with is less appealing.

 

[Simon NZ]

UK leading the way in the democratised police state.
Hegseth anti AI regulation to promote fast AI growth definitely shows how deep the influence of the AI companies are. Without care.
Trump seems to have TACOd on that for now realising the risk, at least some aren't in the AI payroll.

The use of that data can be politically perverted based on an association that is a proven danger.
Anything hunting that displays you butchering an animal is down voted by the paranoid mainstream google, youtube, facebook algorithms.
They can wreck children’s lives, without remorse with their algorithms, spend billions on defending their.

Off course anyone with a license will be red flagged same algorithmic way by UK's perverted pan tiered police. The risks are tangibly apparent.

 

[rollotomassi]

Definitely not against digitisation, but giving Palantir yet more of our personal data to surveil us with is less appealing.

They got a big NHS gig as well. In an unrelated matter the Tony Blair Foundation for World Peace and Good Times recieved £257 million from Larry Ellison of Oracle who is lined up to implement digital ID

Billionaires seem to be keen to make sure all firearms are accounted for

 

[Simon NZ]

Zuckerburg position on Meta is good for kids is like the old days when smoking was good. There are old articles when alcohol was a beneficial health beverage.
They'll argue its the best thing that ever happened to society all the way too the highest court. Despite known in-house evidence proving the damage.

 

[eldon]

These days it takes Mrs Heym less than five minutes on her iphone to renew her car tax.

Less than five minutes to take, but nowhere near that to return; why?

By post they send you a cheque for any refund. You then need to cash it and obviously you can't draw on it until cleared........ but it only took five minutes to take it off you.

Lopsided always, will digital fac be lopsided and no doubt against us?

 

[JonR]

It really is a pity that UK enterprises did not win the contract, if indeed they even tried to compete. As several people have mentioned, what is required for firearms licensing admin is ostensibly achievable with existing database solutions, however, with poison and explosives also included in the contract I wager it gets more complicated.

 

[cjm1066]

Credit size FAC, go to RFD and swap my 270 Sako for a 6.5 Creedmore, all licensing issues sorted at checkout - that's what we should be moving towards.

PS other choices of rifle make/cartridge are available, these are only to illustrate my point.

 

[HonestJohn]

Credit size FAC, go to RFD and swap my 270 Sako for a 6.5 Creedmore, all licensing issues sorted at checkout - that's what we should be moving towards.

PS other choices of rifle make/cartridge are available, these are only to illustrate my point.

Never ever going to happen

 

[HonestJohn]

Next thing will be that in order to renew, you need a digital ID, which also gives the govt and hmrc full access to your bank details and likely monthly csv file transfers for their AI to analyse if you are conforming.