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GitHub will Keep Selling Software to ICE, Leaked Email Says

posted by Fnord666 on Monday October 14 2019, @12:36PM   Printer-friendly
from the taking-their-ball-and-leaving dept.

upstart writes in with a submission, via IRC, for SoyCow1337.

GitHub will keep selling software to ICE, leaked email says

Microsoft-owned GitHub will renew a $200,000 contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, despite concerns about the Trump administration's policies, according to a leaked email.

GitHub CEO Nat Friedman said in an internal email leaked to tech activist organization Fight for the Future that ICE purchased a license for a GitHub enterprise server in 2016, and that the purchase recently came up for renewal. In the email, Friedman said the company doesn't have an agreement to provide professional services to ICE, and it "has no visibility into how this software is being used, other than presumably for software development and version control."

[...] Friedman describes the $200,000 ICE contract as "not financially material" and says in the email that GitHub will donate $500,000 to nonprofits that support immigrant communities affected by Trump administration policies.

After the email was leaked, GitHub posted the full text in a blog post Wednesday morning. "At GitHub, we believe in empowering developers around the world," Friedman writes in a note. "We also believe in basic human rights and treating people with respect and dignity."

Providing software to ICE has become a flashpoint in the tech industry, as employees question how their work contributions will be used by the United States government. Hundreds of GitHub coders have signed on to a petition calling on Microsoft to stop providing services to ICE or they will "take our projects elsewhere."

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  • (Score: 2) by The Shire on Tuesday October 15 2019, @12:01PM (3 children)

    by The Shire (5824) on Tuesday October 15 2019, @12:01PM (#907327)

    Any misunderstanding is entirely because of insufficient comprehension on your part.

    Personal attacks tell me everything I need to know about you and how pointless any attempt at reasoned discussion with you would be.

    Next time make a clear point and defend it.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday October 15 2019, @01:21PM (2 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Tuesday October 15 2019, @01:21PM (#907351) Homepage
    The clear point was already made:
    most illegal immigration was legal immigration, and there's no magical way (in a supposedly free society) to tell when he latter has turned into the former.

    Which bit of that did you not understand the first time?
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

    • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday October 15 2019, @02:59PM (1 child)

      by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Tuesday October 15 2019, @02:59PM (#907391) Journal

      I must admit that it took me a minute to parse it out. But very insightful and I went backed and modded your parent post so.

      --
      This sig for rent.

      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday October 15 2019, @03:27PM

        by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Tuesday October 15 2019, @03:27PM (#907406) Homepage
        My argumentation is highly influenced by Holbein's /The Ambassadors/. The logic is there, you just have to look at things in a different way from normal. Too much of a stretch for some people, alas.

        Had the hollow ringing persisted, I was thinking of following up with this little riddle:

            Q: What's responsible for the majority of illegal immigration in the US?
            A: The sun.

        But I'm guessing that would wooosh right past his head and over the horizon.
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves