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The phrasing of this makes it sound like he wants to paint it as though he's doing community service or something. But...Defense Digital Service? At the Pentago
by SwellJoe 10y ago
The phrasing of this makes it sound like he wants to paint it as though he's doing community service or something. But...Defense Digital Service? At the Pentagon? That's not exactly curing cancer or solving poverty.
- tomglynch 10y agoYeah, isn't this just taking on another job?
- progers7 10y agoI think it's pretty charitable since he's taking a massive paycut. The maximum GS payscale is 160k which is nowhere near his current compensation.
- BinaryIdiot 10y agoMany in the government space can go higher than that through special exceptions, projects and various other reasons. So I'm not convinced you can simply conclude that he's making $160k.
- curiousgal 10y agoHow much does he make in Google?
- nullptr888 10y agoI think he's already married ;)
- argonaut 10y agoAre you curing cancer or solving poverty? If not, stop criticizing people for that. It's a tired cliche. I also find it ridiculous that's the standard you set for "community service."
- joshmanders 10y agoNo way would SwellJoe be wasting his time curing cancer and solving poverty, that's petty stuff! No, SwellJoe is doing bigger things, like smart water bottles!
- dang 10y agoPersonal attacks are not welcome here, regardless of how strongly you disagree with someone. When you see a bad subthread, please don't make it even worse. Instead, post something to turn it in a more substantive, less inflamed direction, or simply don't post at all.
- merraksh 10y agoWell, nobody is curing cancer or solving poverty, so by your logic nobody could criticize. Many people are actually doing something to help either cause (from researchers down to the $10 donor), and I think all of them have the right to criticize one's choice.
- SwellJoe 10y ago
- Matt_Cutts 10y agoAt the risk of wading into a fraught discussion, here's an example from yesterday: http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/802828/carter-announces-hack-the-pentagon-program-results http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/802828/cart... . Bug bounty programs have proven very effective in private industry (e.g. when Chrome pays security researchers who find vulnerabilities). The Defense Digital Service just completed one of the first bug bounty programs for the federal government. This is my personal opinion, but if bug bounty programs become more common in the government, that would mean that lots more people would be protected from hacks or identity theft. To give another example that's under the umbrella of the US Digital Service, https://www.vets.gov/playbook/ https://www.vets.gov/playbook/ is an attempt to bring resources for veterans into a single website. Right now, veterans may have to navigate 1000+ websites, 956 different 1-800 numbers, and just deal with more hassle than they should. I interviewed at the US Digital Service but ended up at the Defense Digital Service because that's where I thought I could help the most. There's some good info about the sort of projects that people at the USDS/DDS work on at https://www.usds.gov/work https://www.usds.gov/work if anyone is interested. 18F at https://18f.gsa.gov/ https://18f.gsa.gov/ is also doing great work, with the extra benefit that people can work for the 18F remotely. 18F has also been a proponent for more open source in the government: https://fcw.com/articles/2016/03/25/noble-open-code.aspx https://fcw.com/articles/2016/03/25/noble-open-code.aspx
- DanielBMarkham 10y agoCongrats Matt. I hope you kick some serious ass. I have my reservations about automating administrative and criminal law, but I think you have found a spot where what you are doing is needed and can help a lot of people. I'm within a couple of hours' drive from DC. If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know.
- tptacek 10y agoYou shouldn't have reservations about automating criminal law. One of the great injustices of our time is the overloaded criminal court system, which can hold defendants for years before they see a courtroom due to the time it takes to handle simple pre-trial motions.
- varjag 10y agoShow your integrity, get off DARPAnet.
- SwellJoe 10y agoI assume you're implying the Internet would not exist without military involvement? I think that has already been debunked during the "Al Gore invented the Internet" conversation. The military receives no benefit from my use of the Internet (aside from the tax revenue it generates, but I don't have any good way to avoid providing tax revenue to the government).
- varjag 10y agoAmong the parallel Universes there's undoubtedly one where development of IP stack wasn't funded by DoD. But it's not this one.
- somedangedname 10y agoThere have been many civilian, international contributions to building the modern Internet.
- philip1209 10y agoUSDS is heavily involved in the VA. Part of that work depends on clear communication from the Pentagon. I don't know the specific circumstances here, but I can imagine that there are many veterans whose ability to receive healthcare depends on better infrastructure at the Pentagon.
- SwellJoe 10y agoExcellent point, and something that is unarguably (at least, unarguable by me) a good thing.