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Original WIRED article looks like argumentum ad hominem attack on a technology company for its alleged links to Russian government. It is sad that propaganda w
by 1gor 14y ago
Original WIRED article looks like argumentum ad hominem attack on a technology company for its alleged links to Russian government.
It is sad that propaganda war between the US and Russia is spreading to 'technology' news media. We are better off discussing technology, not politics.
- aidenn0 14y agoI had a print subscription to Wired the first year it came out. IIRC it was fairly political even back then.
- rickmb 14y agoDiscussing technology without politics is sticking your head in the sand. Technology has a political impact, and technological choices are politically influenced. Half the topics on HN would be very different if you took away the political context. Unless you only want to discuss programming languages at an academic level, it's almost impossible to ignore the politics.
- SeanDav 14y agoAcademic politics are just as ferocious as country politics and in many cases (e.g. global warming) almost inseparable.
- photon137 14y ago"...and technological choices are politically influenced" Nope. Technological choices are solely influenced by the problem one is trying to solve. The course of war, peace and espionage may be determined by politics but the choice of technology is totally influenced by the problems war and espionage may present that technology needs to be able to solve. You can't build a "liberal" radar or a "conservative" radar or a downright "communist" radar. You can just build a radar to detect aircraft.
- danso 14y ago> Nope. Technological choices are solely influenced by the problem one is trying to solve. Let me guess: you've never worked in government contracting before?
- photon137 14y agoMy statement still holds: the lowest quote is part of the problem. (And to answer your question: nope - and I hope not to).
- mcguire 14y agoTrue, but you can build a radar that displays flocks of geese as F-15's (to make up a bogus example) if that satisfies the needs of your client. Ignoring the non-technical aspects of technology is as short-sighted as ignoring technical aspects you don't happen to care for.
- eli 14y agoYou're seriously suggesting cyber security research has nothing to do with politics? Technology is not an independent force of nature. It's the product of people, and people are inherently connected to politics.
- photon137 14y agoI'm seriously suggesting the underlying technology has nothing to do with politics. One can discuss buffer overruns and CSRFs and what not without any political overtones whatsoever (or should be able to). There is no area of human life that hasn't been impacted by technology and very few of them actually involve politics in the traditional sense. Forgiving tech media that covers political stories in the guise of "tech" news because tech is "inseparable" from politics is naive, at best. It is separable and should be. But then again, I understand media is indeed inseparable from politics. "...people are inherently connected to politics." I disagree. This varies from society to society - it might be true for America, not true for other places. People in those places know what the sphere of influence of politics is and many areas are totally separated from politics. In the US, in contrast, almost anything can be (and routinely is) made a political issue.
- eli 14y agoHuh? What is your definition of "politics"? What society are you thinking of? North Korea? Even there (maybe especially there) politics plays a huge role in technology.
- sciurus 14y agoI'm reminded of this quote: "Your question is: why am I so interested in politics? But if I were to answer you very simply, I would say this: why shouldn't I be interested? That is to say, what blindness, what deafness, what density of ideology would have to weigh me down to prevent me from being interested in what is probably the most crucial subject to our existence, that is to say the society in which we live, the economic relations within which it functions, and the system of power which defines the regular forms and the regular permissions and prohibitions of our conduct. The essence of our life consists, after all, of the political functioning of the society in which we find ourselves. So I can't answer the question of why I should be interested; I could only answer it by asking why shouldn't I be interested?" - Michel Foucault
- jacalata 14y agoRight. So you're not aware of Richard Stallman? You've never met a rabid 'M$ $UX!' guy?
- photon137 14y agoI can still write software, discuss ideas and think about architecture etc etc. while totally ignoring both of those guys.
- smoyer 14y agoIs there really a propaganda war between the US and Russia (in the technology space)? I've worked with a few Russiana and they were all dedicated professionals. I've worked with a lot of Americans and a few of them were criminals. I suspect that if I worked with enough Russians, I'd eventually run into a small percentage who were criminals too. Let's just agree that any population is going to have a few and stick to having technology discussions here.
- PakG1 14y agoTurn it in a new direction. How about the US and China? There have been some interesting articles posted here recently about Chinese and American technology, especially when it comes to Chinese manufacturing products used by US. And the IP issues have definitely become political, with propaganda on both sides.
- forensic 14y agoYou're confusing spheres. Propaganda and geopolitical intrigue is completely separate from crime.