News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Amazon Employee: We Shouldn’t Sell Facial Recognition Tec... by paulcole on Thursday October 18, 2018 @09:32AM (#18248129)
> Second, you risk AWS being seen as non-neutral based on the whims of employees' feelings about a company (as opposed to something illegal).

There are plenty of legal things that I think it’s fine with being non-neutral on. A private company SHOULD be non-neutral based on the whims of the employees! Who else steers their ship?

Re:Amazon Employee: We Shouldn’t Sell Facial Recognition Tec... by vorpalhex on Thursday October 18, 2018 @09:44AM (#18248215)
Can AWS be non-neutral? Sure, legally and even ethically, that's fine.

If AWS is non-neutral, will that hurt their ability to attract clients? Absolutely. I'm the first one in line to abolish ICE, but if AWS starts kicking people they don't like off of AWS I'll also be the first one to stop using it. Sure, we agree on ICE, what about companies that make violent video games? Companies that make firearm accessories?

Re:Amazon Employee: We Shouldn’t Sell Facial Recognition Tec... by spaginal on Thursday October 18, 2018 @10:06AM (#18248394)
Why abolish ICE? What specifically is the issue with ICE short of news and celebrities demanding it because it’s in vogue?

They serve a legitimate law enforcement function in our country, which by last check doesn’t have open borders and prosecutes those that cross illegally?

Re:Amazon Employee: We Shouldn’t Sell Facial Recognition Tec... by vorpalhex on Thursday October 18, 2018 @10:45AM (#18248707)
ICE has a weird history going back a long time. They've inked a lot of warrants for.. software piracy, actually. Yeah, not across borders, not like involving immigrants, just, ye olde plain jane software piracy.

Note that I'm not saying we should be getting rid of Customs and Border Patrol, nor am I saying anything crazy like we shouldn't have borders. The problem with ICE is that they're a weird pet agency under DHS that has a lot of power, minimal oversight, and a history of abusing their power.

They also do some exceptionally terrible things like snatching immigrants from courtrooms instead of you know, using local police forces like they should.

Re:Amazon Employee: We Shouldn’t Sell Facial Recognition Tec... by azemetre on Thursday October 18, 2018 @11:05AM (#18248892)
Because ICE was the result of 9/11 hysteria, it's a government organization whose duties were already being done elsewhere.

I don't think people realize it was only formed in 2003...

Re:Amazon Employee: We Shouldn’t Sell Facial Recognition Tec... by isoskeles on Thursday October 18, 2018 @11:24AM (#18249062)
I don't see what it being formed in 2003 has to do with anything.

What exactly is being advocated in abolishing ICE when you bring up that another agency was doing its duties? Are you saying that other agency can take over those duties again?

Most of the abolish ICE crowd just wants to get rid of ICE and ICE's duties. I don't think they want the CBP doing roughly the same thing ICE is doing. They'll just demand we abolish CBP.

Re:Amazon Employee: We Shouldn’t Sell Facial Recognition Tec... by EpicEng on Thursday October 18, 2018 @01:51PM (#18250467)
ICE is extremely militaristic in its approach. Think if it like replacing all police officers with SWAT team members.
Re:Amazon Employee: We Shouldn’t Sell Facial Recognition Tec... by AsyncAwait on Thursday October 18, 2018 @07:01PM (#18253016)
ICE has a history of horrible treatment of detainees, it abuses its authority and I find it strange that small government conservatives love it the most.
Re:Amazon Employee: We Shouldn’t Sell Facial Recognition Tec... by kodablah on Thursday October 18, 2018 @09:43AM (#18248208)
I think you're making a general statement, which I agree with in general, and I'm making one based on the nuances of this situation. It matters what you are non-neutral about and it matters if you provide a platform or not. Many see great value in neutral platforms. It should just be clear that picking and choosing winners in this way can harm that appearance of neutrality that may cause other [potential] users of your platform to be concerned about which side of the collective bed the employees will wake up on and kick you off. You can either be consistent or be seen as a risky proposition, especially in foundational contexts where lock-in applies.
Re:Amazon Employee: We Shouldn’t Sell Facial Recognition Tec... by Simon_says on Thursday October 18, 2018 @09:36AM (#18248166)
Presumably the shareholders via a board of directors and CEO?
Re:Amazon Employee: We Shouldn’t Sell Facial Recognition Tec... by paulcole on Thursday October 18, 2018 @10:28AM (#18248575)
OK, invite the shareholders to Seattle to sit down and start working on AWS.
Re:Amazon Employee: We Shouldn’t Sell Facial Recognition Tec... by Simon_says on Thursday October 18, 2018 @08:44PM (#18253542)
We're busy. But we're willing to pay people to go to Seattle and do it.