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Several sites are reporting, without reference to IBM's activities 70 years ago, that Microsoft's contact with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is drawing fire online. The Computer Business Review includes a quote from Microsoft now missing from their press release:
"ICE's decision to accelerate IT modernization using Azure Government will help them innovate faster while reducing the burden of legacy IT. The agency is currently implementing transformative technologies for homeland security and public safety, and we're proud to support this work with our mission-critical cloud," he wrote.
KUOW radio writes on their web site that Microsoft is facing outrage their for blog post touting ICE contract:
As outrage grew online, a Microsoft employee quietly removed mention of ICE from the January press release this morning. Social media users noticed that, too. The company has since restored the press release's original language, and called its removal a "mistake."
After a little bit of conference swag gets handed out and a few advertising contracts^W^Wscholarships get handed out, this will all blow over and be forgotten.
(Score: 3, Offtopic) by stretch611 on Tuesday June 19 2018, @07:34PM (3 children)
Yes, I am using linux exclusively right now... Back in the 90's I was even using OS/2.
I have referred to Microsoft as, Micro$oft, "Micro & soft", and just plain M$ among other things.
HOWEVER, as much as I hate Microsoft, holding them to blame over the recent ICE policies is pointless.
They are a business.... They sign deals to provide services to many different companies all the time... and quite honestly, government contracts are usually quite lucrative and highly sought after.
How many companies run background and ethical checks when doing business with the federal government? I doubt there are many at all if any.
Microsoft should not be held accountable for ICE policies just because they provide cloud services. Now, if Microsoft was developing horse whips designed to brutally flay the skin of the children's bodies and enhance their screams while they are being torn away from their families, that would be a different story.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @07:42PM (2 children)
I see. This is so we can quantify innocence measured in 'degrees of separation'? Sorry, man, the foot soldiers doing the general's dirty work are the evil ones.
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Tuesday June 19 2018, @07:51PM (1 child)
Wouldn't the foot soldiers in this case be the actual ICE agents?
Or would the foot soldiers be the republican congress critters that are too afraid to step up to the shitstorm known as Trump?
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:18AM
Don't blame congress for anything. They are doing what they are told. Blame the people that keep reelecting them instead taking the initiative to replace them. The voters are the foot soldiers, just as much to blame for everything we suffer as anybody else you can conjure up.