4 ms·

Back in 2012 I was chatting with a co-worker whose side hustle was owning/running convenience store gas stations (he had two and was looking to expand). He was

by mikece 6y ago

Back in 2012 I was chatting with a co-worker whose side hustle was owning/running convenience store gas stations (he had two and was looking to expand). He was talking about the issues he was facing with shoplifters and I mentioned that Facebook had, in the previous 12 months, acquired the #2 company in facial recognition -- then did it again when the #3 company moved up to #2. I asked him if paying $200/month per store for a digital surveillance system that not only captured video but ran biometric matches against Facebook's database of images would be of interest to him. "Hell yes!" was the answer without any hesitation (I think he would have gladly paid more because insurance rates would possibly go down -- I forget the rest of the conversation). The point being: whether it's Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, or Yahoo, these services aren't developed just because it's cool but in order to generate revenue at some point. Why is there so much shock and surprise that Microsoft tried to sell a digital security/surveillance/law enforcement tool to the DEA? To me the major story would be if someone internally suggested it and it was nixed on principle.

blantonl 6y ago
Not to mention, there are literally billions of dollars of grants and other funds available just waiting to be full-filled in search of problems. The surveillance industrial complex that was kicked off after 9/11 has more money available then can possibly be spent. Any major software and infrastructure provider would be foolish not to develop armies of teams to go after that funding. Don't think for a second that IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, and ANY other enterprise hardware and software organization hasn't put huge resources in place to address these "needs." These feel good press releases do just that - but I guarantee you the Fed divisions of these companies are still plugging away selling billions to the government for software, hardware, and services around all kinds of surveillance technology.
koheripbal 6y ago
I think people underestimate the degree to which most companies cooperate with the law enforcement. When I was a teenager working for my Dad's small insurance agency, investigators would come in about once per year and ask for files on customer xyz. When I was old enough, I asked my dad if they needed a warrant. His answer was "Yes, but why the hell would I want to fight that battle?". In my 30s, I worked for a major financial bank running tech for their US compliance/legal/regulatory departments. The mountains of data that we give local, state, and federal authorities on a daily basis is enormous. I mean you wouldn't believe how much data we handed over - or made available during an inspection. There was a documented official process for both the ad-hoc requests or the regular dumps, but we absolutely never fought with them about what we provided.

by mikece 6y ago

blantonl 6y ago

Not to mention, there are literally billions of dollars of grants and other funds available just waiting to be full-filled in search of problems. The surveillance industrial complex that was kicked off after 9/11 has more money available then can possibly be spent. Any major software and infrastructure provider would be foolish not to develop armies of teams to go after that funding. Don't think for a second that IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, and ANY other enterprise hardware and software organization hasn't put huge resources in place to address these "needs." These feel good press releases do just that - but I guarantee you the Fed divisions of these companies are still plugging away selling billions to the government for software, hardware, and services around all kinds of surveillance technology.

koheripbal 6y ago

I think people underestimate the degree to which most companies cooperate with the law enforcement. When I was a teenager working for my Dad's small insurance agency, investigators would come in about once per year and ask for files on customer xyz. When I was old enough, I asked my dad if they needed a warrant. His answer was "Yes, but why the hell would I want to fight that battle?". In my 30s, I worked for a major financial bank running tech for their US compliance/legal/regulatory departments. The mountains of data that we give local, state, and federal authorities on a daily basis is enormous. I mean you wouldn't believe how much data we handed over - or made available during an inspection. There was a documented official process for both the ad-hoc requests or the regular dumps, but we absolutely never fought with them about what we provided.