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  1. #1
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Microsoft employees protest company's work with ICE

    Microsoft employees protest company's work with ICE

    The open letter asks CEO Satya Nadella to cancel the company's contract with the agency separating members of families that cross US borders illegally.

    by
    Steven Musil
    June 19, 2018 5:17 PM PDT

    More than 100 Microsoft employees have signed an open letter protesting the company's work with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and asking the company to cease operations with the agency, which has been separating members of families that cross US borders illegally.

    "We believe that Microsoft must take an ethical stand, and put children and families above profits," said the letter, which was addressed to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The letter republished by the New York Times, notes that Microsoft has a $19 million contract to provide cloud storage and artificial intelligence services.

    "As the people who build the technologies that Microsoft profits from, we refuse to be complicit," the letter says. "We are part of a growing movement, comprised of many across the industry who recognize the grave responsibility that those creating powerful technology have to ensure what they build is used for good, and not for harm."

    The letter is part of the outrage the tech community has expressed over President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, which aims to separate children from their parents when they cross US borders illegally. The move has resulted in the US government sending thousands of children to holding camps around the country, images of which have sparked international outrage, even from within Trump's own party.

    Microsoft didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter. The company said Monday it's "dismayed" by the actions of ICE and is asking the government to change its policy. It also said its services aren't aiding the agency's actions regarding families at the border.

    "Microsoft is not working with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or US Customs and Border Protection on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border, and contrary to some speculation, we are not aware of Azure or Azure services being used for this purpose," Microsoft said a statement.

    A host of prominent tech leaders have publicly condemned the policy in the last couple of days. Apple CEO Tim Cook calls it "inhumane," while Google CEO Sundar Pichai called stories and images of families being separated "gut wrenching" and urged the US government to find a "better, more humane way."

    Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, himself an immigrant, called the policy "immoral," saying, "families are the backbone of society." YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki also found the stories "heartbreaking" and recommended ways for her nearly 200,000 followers to help.

    https://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-...work-with-ice/
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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    I say ICE needs to change vendors immediately. Whatever is being stored on their Azure system is no longer secure with hostiles and enemies in charge of it or around it. You're going to walk in one day and find out you have no data "storage".
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

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    What a joke!
    If a person is still using Microsoft products then that demonstrates a willful ignorance and they deserve what they get such as viruses and security problems.

    Microsoft is not the company it once was due to bad choices and failure to see the future.
    MS literally had the desktop. So desktop search should have been a no-brainer. Google took search off their hands.
    MS failed to see the mobile phone market's rise while pushing Windows CE. Apple and Android kicked their butts!
    MS was late to the music market with Zune: Apple took it with iTunes.
    MS put its "weight" behind the failed HD-DVD. Sony and Blu-ray took them to the woodshed!
    MS focused on the home user and neglected business and introduced IIS server for the web. The internet is ran on Unix and Linux servers today.

    MS still has a lot of money for R+D but they cannot think beyond the desktop and it is starting to show due to companies like Google taking functionality out of the realm of OS and making them a web service.

    So, I say our government need to do like other governments and departments: Go with Linux.
    French police went with Linux for a 40% savings in total cost of ownership: https://www.zdnet.com/article/french...-ubuntu-linux/
    London Stock Exchange moved to Linux: https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-lo...-novell-linux/

    There are many other entities that have switched because they knew they were getting ripped off!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Judy View Post
    I say ICE needs to change vendors immediately. Whatever is being stored on their Azure system is no longer secure with hostiles and enemies in charge of it or around it. You're going to walk in one day and find out you have no data "storage".
    There are tons of virtualization packages for open source systems. I think Azure is garbage but I admit I'm prejudiced toward MS...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar...ation_software
    Last edited by Boomslang; 06-20-2018 at 06:33 AM.

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