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One of the first investors of Facebook was In-Q-Tel, the VC arm of the CIA. Let that sink in for a moment. For me the hardest thing about this is getting over t

One of the first investors of Facebook was In-Q-Tel, the VC arm of the CIA. Let that sink in for a moment. For me the hardest thing about this is getting over the shock that the CIA has a VC investment division.

ethanbond 12y ago
Why would that shock you? Of course the government is going to invest in technology it could find useful. In the really hardcore stuff it's simply called a "research grant," and it powers every single American research university.
- nickbauman 12y ago
  Conflict of interest. At least a research grant has outcomes that are supposed to be public and benefit the public. A VC arm that's part of the government seems like a monstrous hybrid of private and public. What is the profit for? For the same reason that it gives one pause regarding what the CIA is doing investing in social media. If it's totally OK, why not have the government invest in private prison companies?
- mauricemir 12y ago
  And don't for get that for decades most of the Rnd into AI and ML was funded by the government - back in the 80's I had a co worker who moved away from AI for that reason. Let alone how SV was in large part funded and formed by Military Contracts
ditonal 12y ago
I don't disagree that there is huge room for unethical behavior in these corporations, and we as citizens and employees need to be vigilant about them. I just don't think engineers working on ad-tech because it pays well is necessarily terrible.
curun1r 12y ago
Kinda takes some of the humor away from: http://mashable.com/2011/05/22/facebook-onion-cia/ http://mashable.com/2011/05/22/facebook-onion-cia/ It's sad that so many of The Onion's attempts at over-the-top parody have turned out to be prescient.
pekk 12y ago
And wouldn't it be even more shocking to discover that CIA recruited from all the prestigious schools and that former CIA agents had even acted as President?

ethanbond 12y ago

Why would that shock you? Of course the government is going to invest in technology it could find useful. In the really hardcore stuff it's simply called a "research grant," and it powers every single American research university.

nickbauman 12y ago
Conflict of interest. At least a research grant has outcomes that are supposed to be public and benefit the public. A VC arm that's part of the government seems like a monstrous hybrid of private and public. What is the profit for? For the same reason that it gives one pause regarding what the CIA is doing investing in social media. If it's totally OK, why not have the government invest in private prison companies?
mauricemir 12y ago
And don't for get that for decades most of the Rnd into AI and ML was funded by the government - back in the 80's I had a co worker who moved away from AI for that reason. Let alone how SV was in large part funded and formed by Military Contracts

ditonal 12y ago

I don't disagree that there is huge room for unethical behavior in these corporations, and we as citizens and employees need to be vigilant about them. I just don't think engineers working on ad-tech because it pays well is necessarily terrible.

curun1r 12y ago

Kinda takes some of the humor away from: http://mashable.com/2011/05/22/facebook-onion-cia/ http://mashable.com/2011/05/22/facebook-onion-cia/ It's sad that so many of The Onion's attempts at over-the-top parody have turned out to be prescient.

pekk 12y ago

And wouldn't it be even more shocking to discover that CIA recruited from all the prestigious schools and that former CIA agents had even acted as President?