In an Open Letter, Microsoft Employees Urge the Company To Not Bid on the US Military's Project JEDI (medium.com) 330
On Tuesday, Microsoft expressed its intent
to bid on the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract -- a contract that represents a $10 billion project to build cloud services for the Department of Defense. The contract is massive in scope and shrouded in secrecy, which makes it nearly impossible to know what technologies Microsoft would be building for the Department of Defense. At an industry day for JEDI, DoD Chief Management Officer John H. Gibson II explained the program's impact, saying, "We need to be very clear. This program is truly about increasing the lethality of our department." This has ruffled a few feathers inside the Redmond-based software giant. In an open letter published Saturday, an unspecified number of Microsoft employees stated their disapproval. They wrote: Many Microsoft employees don't believe that what we build should be used for waging war. When we decided to work at Microsoft, we were doing so in the hopes of "empowering every person on the planet to achieve more," not with the intent of ending lives and enhancing lethality. For those who say that another company will simply pick up JEDI where Microsoft leaves it, we would ask workers at that company to do the same. A race to the bottom is not an ethical position. Like those who took action at Google, Salesforce, and Amazon, we ask all employees of tech companies to ask how your work will be used, where it will be applied, and act according to your principles.
We need to put JEDI in perspective. This is a secretive $10 billion project with the ambition of building "a more lethal" military force overseen by the Trump Administration. The Google workers who protested these collaborations and forced the company to take action saw this. We do too. So we ask, what are Microsoft's A.I. Principles, especially regarding the violent application of powerful A.I. technology? How will workers, who build and maintain these services in the first place, know whether our work is being used to aid profiling, surveillance, or killing? Earlier this year Microsoft published "The Future Computed," examining the applications and potential dangers of A.I. It argues that strong ethical principles are necessary for the development of A.I. that will benefit people, and defines six core principles: "fair, reliable and safe, private and secure, inclusive, transparent, and accountable."
With JEDI, Microsoft executives are on track to betray these principles in exchange for short-term profits. If Microsoft is to be accountable for the products and services it makes, we need clear ethical guidelines and meaningful accountability governing how we determine which uses of our technology are acceptable, and which are off the table. Microsoft has already acknowledged the dangers of the tech it builds, even calling on the federal government to regulate A.I. technologies. But there is no law preventing the company from exercising its own internal scrutiny and standing by its own ethical compass. Further reading: Google Drops Out of Pentagon's $10 Billion Cloud Competition.
We need to put JEDI in perspective. This is a secretive $10 billion project with the ambition of building "a more lethal" military force overseen by the Trump Administration. The Google workers who protested these collaborations and forced the company to take action saw this. We do too. So we ask, what are Microsoft's A.I. Principles, especially regarding the violent application of powerful A.I. technology? How will workers, who build and maintain these services in the first place, know whether our work is being used to aid profiling, surveillance, or killing? Earlier this year Microsoft published "The Future Computed," examining the applications and potential dangers of A.I. It argues that strong ethical principles are necessary for the development of A.I. that will benefit people, and defines six core principles: "fair, reliable and safe, private and secure, inclusive, transparent, and accountable."
With JEDI, Microsoft executives are on track to betray these principles in exchange for short-term profits. If Microsoft is to be accountable for the products and services it makes, we need clear ethical guidelines and meaningful accountability governing how we determine which uses of our technology are acceptable, and which are off the table. Microsoft has already acknowledged the dangers of the tech it builds, even calling on the federal government to regulate A.I. technologies. But there is no law preventing the company from exercising its own internal scrutiny and standing by its own ethical compass. Further reading: Google Drops Out of Pentagon's $10 Billion Cloud Competition.
It's bad when trump does it (Score:2, Insightful)
But A-OK when Obama did it!
Re: It's bad when trump does it (Score:2, Insightful)
This submission screams political interest piece courtesy of msmash. I wonder how many heads would explode if these people were told that war has been waged for tens of thousands of years and Donald Trump is just the current president keeping the arms sharpened.
At least it's not Obama bombing us Nationals with drones.
Re: It's bad when trump does it (Score:5, Insightful)
This submission screams political interest piece courtesy of msmash.
How is it a political piece and not an story on ethics? This is of genuine interest to the people who are interested in IT. How should people who don't work in a traditional defense industry react when they are asked to work on a project that is described by DOD's chief management officer as "about increasing the lethality of our department"? Do you think that this story should have been swept under the carpet?
I wonder how many heads would explode if these people were told that war has been waged for tens of thousands of years and Donald Trump is just the current president keeping the arms sharpened.
These aren't stupid people. You aren't going to teach them anything by pointing out that war isn't a new thing. But just because war has been waged for thousands of years does not mean to that they want to play a part in killing people. And the message in the letter is not that they object to working the Trump administration (there are plenty of government contracts that Microsoft bids for that doesn't generate a backlash).
Nor are they advocating that the JEDI program should not exist. There message is simply that they do not want to be part of it.
Re: It's bad when trump does it (Score:5, Insightful)
Two things:
1) if they don't want to be part of it, then they can always leave MS for some other company...
2) "There message" --- their message? where message?
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1) if they don't want to be part of it, then they can always leave MS for some other company...
I have already addressed this in another message. There is no need for them to quit the company before it has bid for and won the contract. In the meantime, they have the right to exercise their freedom of speech. I am sure that if there were mass resignations at Microsoft, the executives would rather have been warned of the possibility prior to them bidding for the contract.
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So they have their rights because of people like you, but if they exercise those rights then they should leave the country. And what makes you think that they are ungrateful? Perhaps they think that it is better to leave the decision of who is or isn't an enemy combatant to trained soldiers in the field rather than software written by people whose only experience of warfare is playing Call of Duty. Would you want your life to depend on software written by Microsoft?
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Nor are they advocating that the JEDI program should not exist. There message is simply that they do not want to be part of it.
And these are the first people that either beg to be saved or just roll over to the other side when things go bad. If you don't want to be part of it and support your own country go to that country you do support and live there. Just a few questions in which country were these people born or from what nation are they descended from recently, doesn't Microsoft like importing workers? Is it these workers making this letter?
Re: It's bad when trump does it (Score:4, Insightful)
How is it a political piece and not an story on ethics?
Because Microsoft sells lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of software to the DoD already. All of it is in service of killing people - that's what the DoD does.
To suddenly be concerned that there could be classified Azure instances would seem like a strange place to draw the line if you were so concerned that your company's software could be used for violence. You'd think their deep non-violent beliefs would also extend to the rest of Microsoft's software.
Re: It's bad when trump does it (Score:2, Insightful)
Choosing to not work for the US military is not the same as working against the US military.
They already don't work for the US military, and that's perfectly fine. Where they cross over the line and start working against the US military is when they start advocating that others (in this case, the entire company) refuse to work for the US military.
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Why? Perhaps they think that going ever further into debt is a bad idea for one example.
Re: It's bad when trump does it (Score:3, Insightful)
That would be an incredibly stupid reason given the tiny fraction of the military budget this project represents. It would also be ridiculously shortsighted given that, in principle, increasing lethality could allow for a reduction of future costs rather than an increase.
But, really, their reasons don't matter; the question at hand was whether they're actively working against the interests of their country, and the answer is yes. Yes they are. Even if they're doing it with the purest of intentions it doe
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Let's be fair... these guys are patriotic. If they really wanted to sabotage the Pentagon's project, they'd make sure Microsoft won the bid.
Have you seen someone try and actually use one of their "private cloud" setups for anything serious?
Re: It's bad when trump does it (Score:2, Insightful)
I think the heart of the letter is not far off from a good point, adding Trump in there certainly is illogical and hurts their argument though
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No, it was made a partisan issue by calling out "as overseen by the Trump Administration". It's a blatant attempt to get any anti-Trump person on the bandwagon.
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Of course this is political, the US military has been using Microsoft products to run all sorts of services etc etc that is used towards the same goal.
There is a difference between using a company's products for military purposes and having them specifically create something that is only for a military purpose. It is especially different when using a relatively new technology like artificial intelligence that is capable of becoming extremely evil by automation (which is exactly what had been warned about since AI first gained prominence).
Nowhere in the letter did it say that they would be OK with doing the project if Obama was running it. Instead, it talk
Re: It's bad when trump does it (Score:5, Insightful)
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Obama Administration approved more assassinations through the use of drone strikes etc than any other President in history
That makes about as much sense as saying Truman sanctioned dropping more atomic bombs than any president up until that time.
Besides, it's factually inaccurate. It's a known fact that Teddy Roosevelt sanctioned many, many predator drone strikes during the Spanish American War. Learn your history please.
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Teh Jooz did USS Maine!
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Number of wars started by Trump: 0.
How many did Obama start? Was it more than seven?
Deport them (Score:2, Funny)
They're Microsoft employees. Send them back to India!
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One more problem (Score:2)
Defense (Score:2)
Re:Defense (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder what these same employees would do when China comes knocking on their freedom.
China has no interest in "attacking our freedom".
America has 170,000 troops in East Asia. China has none in North America.
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don't worry bill,
they are there to slow them down, once the bombs go flying it's all over for us all anyway
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America has 170,000 troops in East Asia. China has none in North America.
Troops, guns and sharp pointy things are not the only ways to wage war.
There's economic, social and probably a zillion more than I can think of.
America is (was?) an Empire, just not a military one. 20 years ago you could go to Bumfuck Africa, and have an Oscar Meyer hot dog, wash it down with a Coke, while your companion took a picture of this with Kodak film, while smoking a Marlboro.
If that's not an Empire, I dunno what is.
Anyway, I digress. Yes, we are at war. Economic war, this time, and we not only
Re: Defense (Score:2)
If that's not an Empire, I dunno what is.
I got you covered.
empire
NOUN
An extensive group of states or countries ruled over by a single monarch, an oligarchy, or a sovereign state.
Just to be clear, the thing you were describing is called "trade".
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And CHina is putting troops into Venezuela, along with Nicaragua. And that is in addition, to China's putting troops all over
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And yet, China is pushing for us to get out of South Korea, Japan, Phillipines, middle east, etc.
No they aren't. They object to THAAD in Korea, but not to our military presence.
But every time that we do that, CHina and/or their allies invades those nations.
1. China has no allies.
2. China has never invaded Japan, or the Philippines, or the Middle East.
Even now, CHina is helping North Korea get set up to invade South Korea
China supported the latest UN sanctions on NK.
... support Iran and other nations into supporting fighting in the middle east
China was an active participant in the nuke deal with Iran, and has given Iran no support in Syria or Iraq.
support terrorists groups working against these nations.
China has their own problems with Islamic extremists in Xinjiang. They oppose the Taliban and ISIS.
And CHina is putting troops into Venezuela, along with Nicaragua.
Citation?
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Re: Defense (Score:5, Funny)
Type mismatch - expected parameter of type dictator, found icecream. Bailing near line 473.
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Oh, I see. You are a troll.
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Mmm, Tibet? Weren't they involved in Korea too?
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that is a great response, While I don't think you were trolling, it's just a statement of what
the underlying truth might be. As when at a bar, and you mumble about some news cast,
you are not angry, you are reporting what you feel...
With the above said, A few things we have to note, Americans ( in this case USA ) have for
A very long while not experienced massive losses of troops. WW2 was the last there I can
think of 8000 dead in a 2 to 4 days
Being that I am 51 and a slight perspective buff, I asked this ques
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Correction, these weapons are intended to keep the death toll one sided. Essentially, this is a delayed response to an important lesson learned in Vietnam: When middle aged generally conservative leaning Americans see their sons (and now daughters) coming home in a box, they start asking hard questions about what the supposed benefit is and to whom does it accrue.
That's the danger of weapons like these, they allow the hawks to project force everywhere and cause a great deal of carnage without worrying about
Why won't those folks just quit? (Score:3, Insightful)
Many Microsoft employees don't believe that what we build should be used for waging war. When we decided to work at Microsoft, we were doing so in the hopes of "empowering every person on the planet to achieve more," not with the intent of ending lives and enhancing lethality
It's for this very reason that these employees should quit. I mean...the USA is a "free" country, no? In fact they (the USA), pride themselves with the mantra:
"The land of the free."
Further, they (the people), and the media "echo chamber" *cough* *cough*, refer to their president as being the "leader" of the free world.
So, why don't they just quit?
I understand that folks here may simply say that the same freedom I am talking about allows them to do exactly whet they are doing. Just quit...problem solved.
Re:Why won't those folks just quit? (Score:5, Insightful)
Many Microsoft employees don't believe that what we build should be used for waging war. When we decided to work at Microsoft, we were doing so in the hopes of "empowering every person on the planet to achieve more," not with the intent of ending lives and enhancing lethality
It's for this very reason that these employees should quit. I mean...the USA is a "free" country, no?
Why would you quit if doing so would do nothing to prevent the very thing you objected to? It only makes sense to quit after you make your objections clear and they ignore them.
You should be glad this is the land of the free because people like you are free to say the absolute dumbest things without being jailed. ;)
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Why would you quit if doing so would do nothing to prevent the very thing you objected to?
The DoD is one of Microsoft's largest customers. Why would you go to work for Microsoft if you thought it was wrong for your products to be used for waging war?
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Why would you quit if doing so would do nothing to prevent the very thing you objected to? It only makes sense to quit after you make your objections clear and they ignore them.
Except you and I both know they wouldn't quit after the contract was won.
There are plenty of people that like to complain with no effort, but when it comes down to action will do nothing.
Quitting beforehand in large numbers would really show Microsoft they had a problem, and people could always be re-hired if Microsoft dropped the co
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Except you and I both know they wouldn't quit after the contract was won.
Incorrect, you presume they would not quit. If I were you, I would presume far fewer things because of how extreme your viewpoint is on so many issues. You are not a good judge of character.
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It's for this very reason that these employees should quit.
Why? Microsoft hasn't bid on or won the contract yet, so surely it would be premature to quit their jobs. If they do win it, then some of the people who are asked to betray their principles will probably quit. But the sensible thing to do at this stage is make their feelings known before it comes to such a drastic stage.
If they think that this sort of contract goes against what their departments stand for then they have the right (and even the duty) to point it out.
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Now why I think they won't quit is not so simple.
a secure job is a secure job.
the job market is easy for a good coder ( which I am guessing are the one's protesting )
Problem is the letter in your file when a reference is asked and the reply is given
"Fired due to Non-participation in government contracts". ( which you can say ) along with,
they were always on time and the other required stuff.
That might stop a career for many people. and thinking like a business person, I need
to generate revenue, so w
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Is there no middle ground between silently objecting to what your employer is asking you to do and quitting?
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Do as they say, but do it badly. If anyone can do that it's Microsoft employees.
Hang on, belay that. If they tried to intentionally produce something shite it'd probably come out beyond perfection.
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This is the first effective troll I've seen for a long time. You actually managed to wound my ego.
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Thanks, that made my day.
Still slightly miffed they didn't know who I was though, I thought I was pretty infamous around here.
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Your smarmy straw man argument doesn't really work. Try again.
Did you vote for Obama in his second term? (Score:4, Insightful)
If you did you already actively gave approval for military action. Sorry but trying to pretend you are too good of a person when you already voted for a president that takes unilateral military action in nations we are not at war with. That is active consnet folks. If you say pull the trigger refusing the make the bullets is just lying to yourself.
Re:Did you vote for Obama in his second term? (Score:5, Insightful)
Logical fallacy. There was a choice of two candidates, likely both would have continued with military action and killed innocent people, and opting for the least bad choice is not an endorsement of everything they do. In fact voting for anyone is not an endorsement of every action they take, either up to that point or in the unknowable future.
Re:Did you vote for Obama in his second term? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Bullocks.
The closest thing the US has had to a viable third-party candidate, in my lifetime at least, was Ralph Nader in 2000. And even then, there was no realistic chance of his actually winning. It was just assumed that, with the exemplary Clinton economy and given the thoroughly dismal performance of the previous Bush administration, there was no chance of enough people being daft enough to vote to regress back to another Bush economy and warmongering. So a lot of us voted Nader in the hopes of pushin
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Re:Did you vote for Obama in his second term? (Score:5, Informative)
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I really wish (Score:5, Insightful)
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And yes boys and girls, sometimes you as a nation have to kill those people trying to kill you. That's the real world. Grow up.
Perhaps... but that doesn't mean people should have to take part in something they find morally objectionable, does it?
Also, you might find this hard to believe but a lot more people are killed by domestic bad actors than foreign bad actors. It makes little sense to spend so much on people who are such a small threat.
Re:I really wish (Score:5, Insightful)
And yes boys and girls, sometimes you as a nation have to kill those people trying to kill you. That's the real world. Grow up.
Perhaps... but that doesn't mean people should have to take part in something they find morally objectionable, does it?
Also, you might find this hard to believe but a lot more people are killed by domestic bad actors than foreign bad actors. It makes little sense to spend so much on people who are such a small threat.
No they should not be forced to participate in something that they find to be morally objectionable. But I think they fail to realize that increasing the lethality of the US Military does not automatically equate to people dying somewhere. It's quite possible that doing so would deter a war that would have ultimately resulted in even more deaths than this program *may* potentially result in. They may be saving lives around the world and, almost certainly, would be saving lives of members of the US military. Technology can be used for good or for evil.
I don't think any sane or rational being would want anyone to die in a conflict and yet we continue to have war and conflict throughout the world. The world would be a lot better off if no one had to work on these sorts of projects but could spend their time and their energy doing things that benefit humanity. Unfortunately, I don't believe that human nature and global events will change any time soon.
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It's quite possible that doing so would deter a war that would have ultimately resulted in even more deaths than this program *may* potentially result in.
But more more likely is the military using it to kill more terrorists with drones. And by terrorists I mean random people who happened to be in the area they suspect the bad people are. And by bad people I mean people that the US doesn't like and doesn't feel the need to give any due process to.
You could argue that Iran and North Korea having nukes would act as a deterrent and stop people dying. In the case of NK it actually may have. But would you help them develop those weapons?
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Go read up on how drones are used in Afghanistan. Anyone in the target area is retroactively designated a terrorist to justify their deaths as legal.
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You'd obviously prefer carpet bombing.
Yes the only two choices are carpet bombing and murdering people by drone.
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Your point would be more coherent if any military conflict we've been in this century was even remotely justified. We're creating terrorists and backing dictators. That drones have the theoretical capacity to be more of a precision weapon has been offset by the fact that we use them without limit due to zero risk to the pilots.
You are the one that needs to grow up, because we aren't the good guys, we're the big bad.
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No they should not be forced to participate in something that they find to be morally objectionable.
I highly doubt that they are going to work on it. To make sure that military secrets aren't leaked into the normal commercial space, or for normal commercial space to starve resources from the military side, I would be shocked if this isn't air gapped from the rest of everything else the company is working on. And to cross the air gap is going to require special military background checks. It would boggle my mind if anyone working on it wouldn't be very aware of what they're working on.
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You're not forced to work on the project. You don't like the company, leave, if there are enough objectors, the company will do badly.
Yes, many people are killed domestically but does that mean we shouldn't protect against foreign actors? It's the same argumentation that people use for not going to space - too many problems on earth. If we always have to wait for something else to be fixed we won't ever make progress. If the US wasn't a benevolent super power, who would be in charge of the Middle East? How
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Re:I really wish (Score:5, Insightful)
Jesus, straight from the mouth of warmongers.
You're right. There are some crazy people. Always have been. Always will be. But this idea that the whole world would is out to get is is hysterical bullshit. The US's defense/military dwarfs everybody else's on the planet by orders of magnitude. Nobody can invade us or hurt you. Just fucking relax and turn off Fox News. Maybe try to travel to other countries, where you'll see that 99.999% of people are just trying to get through this life, just the same as you.
We, as a country, do not need to spend any more money defending ourselves from the boogeyman.
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At best we can position ourselves to meet any offensive attack with a solid defense while attempting to increase cooperation and reducing armed conflict. But you can't just leave yourself open or weak because not everyone in the world agrees with the current state of things and less so for future state.
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Yeah, all of those are rounding errors, that only happened because the spies get more power if they DON'T protect, so they don't protect us. Pretty much all of those had 20 warnings of "THIS GUY IS GONNA BLOW SOMETHING UP" that were completely ignored.
Furthermore, if we'd spend a tenth of the money in any of a dozen ways, we could have saved more lives.
As for the military budget, it only needs to be big enough to make an invasion not worthwhile.
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Yes, they are also known as "The US government."
Bring back the draft (Score:2)
This is the what happens when national defense is the problem of "some other kids" who you will never meet or work with. At least with a draft, everyone gets involved. Well, everyone except for the really rich jerks who have a mommy and daddy with connections, but they will be pro-defense no matter what they do.
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Far too many ppl today, do not realize the real threat that is out there. Only once they work/serve in DoD or in our intelligence world, will they find out that the threats out there are VERY real.
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Don't let the vocal minority dictate policy (Score:2)
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Look, employees SHOULD have a say in what happens. It does not mean that they should DECIDE what goes on, but they absolutely should have the right to voice issues to Chairman on down. Somebody erred in outing this letter. It should have remained within MS, just like that one idiot who was fired from Google should have had his postings not aired outside (whomever did that, should have been fired).
That’s cute (Score:2)
When Obama bombed all those countries and funded ISIS those same Microsoft employees didn’t say a word. I wonder why that is.
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I wonder why that is.
New hires?
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But he did. He dropped pallets of cash on Syrian "insurgents" and gave them small arms as well to "fight Assad". Once that funding stopped (and it was Trump who stopped it) ISIS was doomed.
https://www.realclearpolitics.... [realclearpolitics.com]
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So? Why not end it like Trump did?
Big mistake by all. (Score:2)
Far more likely, it would become ALL OF THAT.
BUT, even when tracking terrorists, it is not about killing them and everything around them. The military does this stuff
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Good news for you, Microsoft Windows has been and is used in various weapons systems, for a very long time. Microsoft Windows has killed enemies of the USA, get over it.
Selectively morality at its finest (Score:2)
Squeak long and loud when you are outraged at A, but are completely blind to (if the same principles behind outrage at A are applied) B through Z and more. Honestly, if these people claim to be smart, well, they should just give up now and go get a job flipping burgers.
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I think the concept of selective morality is entirely lost on you.
o rly (Score:2)
done deal a long time ago (Score:2)
Microsoft Windows has been used in weapons systems for a very long time, at least since Windows XP that I know of for Navy and Army. That horse left the barn decades ago .
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An unspecified number you say (Score:2)
Mixed Message (Score:2)
If you really didn't like the military, you would encourage anything that led to the performance of the military depending on Microsoft.
Oh yeah? (Score:2)
"ManyÂMicrosoftÂemployees don't believe that what we build should be used for waging war."
A bit hypocritical when you consider they have absolutely no problem waging war against their customers. From Clippy to Windows 'telemetry', among many things. Next up: "Renting Windows 10 For Beginners" and "Recovering Lost Data After Windows Update - A Guide For The Consumer".
JEDI? (Score:2)
America is Going to Fail (Score:3, Insightful)
Its plain. When its citizens don't agree that the country is worth protecting in the most effective ways possible, then other countries are going to deploy similar technology and defeat us. Its similar to hang together or hang separately. I'm glad I'm 71, and likely won't live to see the ultimate calamity of Chinese or maybe even Indian subjugation of the American people.
This isn't the contract we're looking for (Score:2)
We can go about our business. Move along.
When a US brand goes full political (Score:2)
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And they know this, so they don't want to be blamed when significant military installations get owned...
They're putting themselves out of the bidding and trying to spin it as good PR for them instead of lack of faith in their own products.