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Bezos says 'country in trouble' if big tech turns its back on the Pentagon
- derangedHorse 7y agoIt's hard to believe his want for big tech to support the Pentagon is genuine when he's actively fighting to steal a Pentagon business deal away from Microsoft. If he really cares about national defense he can put his money where his mouth is and just undercut Microsoft's costs by making up the difference with a donation of his own.
- Bostonian 7y agoHe has a point. If Chinese computer scientists work with the Chinese military and Americans do not, the U.S. military will be disadvantaged. It should be noted that "smart" U.S. weapons may kill fewer civilians than the weapons they replaced, because they are better targeted.
- x86_64Ubuntu 7y agoThe problem with smart weapons is that we only seem to use them against goat herders. Hardly a pressing need for a big tech and Pentagon meetup.
- someonehere 7y agoNot just the Pentagon though. Other government agencies that get the shaft from big tech run the risk of outsourcing their needs to other countries. I don’t understand how contracts for other government agencies work or what rules/limits they have. But if a Palantir type company decides to back out of helping DHS for moral reasons, would it be feasible for DHS to turn to a Palantir based out of Eastern Europe or India if such a company existed? I think that’s a bigger risk to outsource tech to foreign nations to manage our nations government agencies.
- AndrewKemendo 7y agowould it be feasible for DHS to turn to a Palantir based out of Eastern Europe or India if such a company existed? The answer is almost always no. The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation, along with executive orders and other lower level orders, places explicit limitations on the source of technologies that will be used in Defense. The mundane result of modern tech companies not working with the DoD, or other federal agencies, is simply that the average serviceman or woman will continue to have to use terrible software and generally default to the "Microsoft Weapons System" (Powerpoint, Excel, Word, Sharepoint). You wouldn't believe some of the amazing Macros built by innovative Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines. There are efforts to remedy this by building modern software natively by service members, but we're still in early days.
- wmf 7y agoA lot of surveillance tech seems to find its way from Israel to the US.
- 6cd6beb 7y agoBusinesses have gotten larger and more powerful than the governments that are supposed to regulate them. Moreover, infested the relevant regulatory agencies.