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Good to see that the very non-controversial opinion of “be neutral at work and treat customers equally” is being used to compare GitHub to IBM during Nazi Germa

Good to see that the very non-controversial opinion of “be neutral at work and treat customers equally” is being used to compare GitHub to IBM during Nazi Germany. Why can’t GitHub just provide code version control systems without concerning itself with who is writing code? Given the recent implosion of StackOverflow, less politics in tech is probably a good thing.

dang 7y ago
The Register has a special mix of technology reporting and satire. As with the title, that bit is obviously there to maximize provocation. Yet the article itself has some diligent research behind it, poking through commit logs and internal threads that few other journalists would. As a result it appears to be a scoop. Googling doesn't reveal any other media piece on this. I bet there will be others after this thread, though. Basically, it's their job to provoke and our job as a community not to take the bait.
rubbingalcohol 7y ago
I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted but no comments addressing the points you raised. Can anyone provide an example of Nazi code being hosted on Gitlab? It might be nice to justify what otherwise looks like an absurd comparison made by this article. What would nazi code even look like? Or is "nazi" in this case just a catch-all for wrongthink?
- Hamuko 7y ago
  What if for example the People's Republic of China was hosting its code on Gitlab? This is a state that has "re-education camps" (interment camps) for a specific group of people and it reported to be engaging in organ harvesting. I don't find it too hard to draw parallels between Nazi Germany and China at the moment.
  - legostormtroopr 7y ago
    Sure, we can all agree that China is involved in human rights violations. But if we are going to ban anything, we need a very clear list of what is banned, when and for how long. We know that CloudFlare has banned all Nazi-esque/White Supremacist material. China is a communist state, and Communism (in all real world implementations) requires violent redistribution of wealth. Should GitLab or Cloudflare remove all Communist material? Who is the arbiter for which political opinions are not allowed in tech? Or should we just neutral towards customers?
  - _-david-_ 7y ago
    So every time somebody signs up for any service you need to provide your address, name, date of birth, 2 forms of id, maybe even your SSN so they can run a background check on you? At any random point in the future they can just revoke your access to the service if they decide something you were previously doing is no longer acceptable.
  - rubbingalcohol 7y ago
    I asked for an example and you're still arguing hypotheticals. And the PRC would not host its code on Gitlab, that's not even a realistic comparison. So far the only pattern I see is people making up hypothetical situations and using them to claim Gitlab is complicit in enabling human rights violations. But last I checked free speech is a human right!
    - Hamuko 7y ago
      You quite literally asked "What would nazi code even look like?" and I replied.
  - ReptileMan 7y ago
    Well the USG can always sanction China and make it illegal to do business with them. Feel free to lobby your congressman if it bothers you so much. Or just quit. Or get raised to a level where you can make a call whether to do business or not with someone. There are a lot of ways to influence someone. Leaving general politics at the door is good idea. You are getting paid to work - so unless you have standing of being harmed directly by company action - just do your job or quit.
- carapace 7y ago
  Well, uh, it's not on GitLab I don't think, but Plankalkül... "a programming language designed for engineering purposes by Konrad Zuse between 1942 and 1945." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankalk%C3%BCl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankalk%C3%BCl > While Zuse never became a member of the Nazi Party, he is not known to have expressed any doubts or qualms about working for the Nazi war effort. Much later, he suggested that in modern times, the best scientists and engineers usually have to choose between either doing their work for more or less questionable business and military interests in a Faustian bargain, or not pursuing their line of work at all. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Zuse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Zuse
dangthecoward 7y ago
The stated policy is that they would take nazi money.

dang 7y ago

The Register has a special mix of technology reporting and satire. As with the title, that bit is obviously there to maximize provocation. Yet the article itself has some diligent research behind it, poking through commit logs and internal threads that few other journalists would. As a result it appears to be a scoop. Googling doesn't reveal any other media piece on this. I bet there will be others after this thread, though. Basically, it's their job to provoke and our job as a community not to take the bait.

rubbingalcohol 7y ago

I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted but no comments addressing the points you raised. Can anyone provide an example of Nazi code being hosted on Gitlab? It might be nice to justify what otherwise looks like an absurd comparison made by this article. What would nazi code even look like? Or is "nazi" in this case just a catch-all for wrongthink?

Hamuko 7y ago
What if for example the People's Republic of China was hosting its code on Gitlab? This is a state that has "re-education camps" (interment camps) for a specific group of people and it reported to be engaging in organ harvesting. I don't find it too hard to draw parallels between Nazi Germany and China at the moment.
- legostormtroopr 7y ago
  Sure, we can all agree that China is involved in human rights violations. But if we are going to ban anything, we need a very clear list of what is banned, when and for how long. We know that CloudFlare has banned all Nazi-esque/White Supremacist material. China is a communist state, and Communism (in all real world implementations) requires violent redistribution of wealth. Should GitLab or Cloudflare remove all Communist material? Who is the arbiter for which political opinions are not allowed in tech? Or should we just neutral towards customers?
- _-david-_ 7y ago
  So every time somebody signs up for any service you need to provide your address, name, date of birth, 2 forms of id, maybe even your SSN so they can run a background check on you? At any random point in the future they can just revoke your access to the service if they decide something you were previously doing is no longer acceptable.
- rubbingalcohol 7y ago
  I asked for an example and you're still arguing hypotheticals. And the PRC would not host its code on Gitlab, that's not even a realistic comparison. So far the only pattern I see is people making up hypothetical situations and using them to claim Gitlab is complicit in enabling human rights violations. But last I checked free speech is a human right!
  - Hamuko 7y ago
    You quite literally asked "What would nazi code even look like?" and I replied.
- ReptileMan 7y ago
  Well the USG can always sanction China and make it illegal to do business with them. Feel free to lobby your congressman if it bothers you so much. Or just quit. Or get raised to a level where you can make a call whether to do business or not with someone. There are a lot of ways to influence someone. Leaving general politics at the door is good idea. You are getting paid to work - so unless you have standing of being harmed directly by company action - just do your job or quit.
carapace 7y ago
Well, uh, it's not on GitLab I don't think, but Plankalkül... "a programming language designed for engineering purposes by Konrad Zuse between 1942 and 1945." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankalk%C3%BCl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankalk%C3%BCl > While Zuse never became a member of the Nazi Party, he is not known to have expressed any doubts or qualms about working for the Nazi war effort. Much later, he suggested that in modern times, the best scientists and engineers usually have to choose between either doing their work for more or less questionable business and military interests in a Faustian bargain, or not pursuing their line of work at all. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Zuse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Zuse

dangthecoward 7y ago

The stated policy is that they would take nazi money.