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I understand the general sentiment here, and don't disagree. But I think ultimately this is about dollars. There is a LOT of money in the government defense s
by taftster 6y ago
I understand the general sentiment here, and don't disagree. But I think ultimately this is about dollars.
There is a LOT of money in the government defense sector. AWS is in an excellent position to capture a lot of that money, but their primary competitor in this space, Microsoft, has been preventing a complete domination and monopoly by Amazon.
With Alexander on the board, this will ultimately lead to different/better insights for how Amazon positions itself in this government sector. Alexander can bring a ton of value, just with his contacts and networking alone, let alone the insight into how security and data operations work in the intelligence community.
Ultimately, this isn't a step towards more government surveillance. The government can't coerce Amazon any more with Alexander on the board or not; the rules are still the same. This is fundamentally about Amazon's desire to get in on the lucrative big dollar contracts that would otherwise end up going to traditional defense contractors like Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop.
- doukdouk 6y ago> Ultimately, this isn't a step towards more government surveillance. Architect of (illegal) government surveillance gets influential role in a major Internet company. I do not expect him to strongly criticize Amazon's privacy violations or questionable data collection. I fully expect him to be supportive of Amazon initiatives that will make for an easier government surveillance (even if only for improving their chances at getting government contracts). Of course the US government cannot coerce Amazon any more with Alexander on board. Yet having powerful, government surveillance supporting, well versed in building systems of government surveillance, individuals on the board will surely have a very different impact than having a privacy rights activists on the board.
- ryanisnan 6y agoTotally this. It's highly unlikely Alexander will encourage overtly illegal practices within Amazon, but he will have full knowledge of the "gray" areas ripe for exploitation, and will utilize them to the best of his abilities.
- qppo 6y agoAmazon won't be pushed into supporting more government surveillance, they will be paid to do it. That's one purpose of these lucrative contracts that traditional defense contractors can't fulfill.