Source: https://housingnothandcuffs.org/2026/06/03/ciceroreport/
Publisher: Housing Not Handcuffs
Date Published: June 3, 2026
Relevant To: Surveillance vendor investment networks; anti-homeless policy and robotics/use-of-force tech response to unhoused populations
Verification Status: Verified
Notes: Confirmed and corroborated across multiple outlets (Rolling Stone, In These Times, Vice, Stateline, Austin Chronicle, naked capitalism). The Cicero Institute, a right-wing think tank founded 2016 by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale (Palantir’s other co-founder is Peter Thiel), has driven a coordinated multi-state legislative push criminalizing homeless encampments via model legislation (the “Reducing Street Homelessness Act”) — elements introduced in 15+ states, passed in at least 8. Cicero’s political arm (Cicero Action, a 501c4) has spent heavily lobbying state legislatures; Cicero staff have testified in favor of bills built on their model text in Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Kansas, and elsewhere. This June 2026 Housing Not Handcuffs report specifically documents financial ties between Lonsdale/Cicero and the private prison and surveillance/defense industries, arguing a profit motive behind the anti-camping push — directly relevant to BPA’s surveillance-vendor-network tracking (per Jonathan’s note connecting this to robodog/unhoused-response surveillance tech discussions). Added per Jonathan’s tip; this is the most recent and most directly on-point primary source found, not verbatim what he described, so flagging that connection as his framing, not an independently confirmed claim from this report alone.