Azure Government and ICE

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/azuregov/2018/01/24/federal-agencies-continue-to-advance-capabilities-with-azure-government/

by mdlincoln • 8 years ago

32 33 8 years ago

blogs.msdn.microsoft.com

s73v3r_8• 8 years ago

This seems like the absolute worst time for anyone to be touting the amount of help they're giving to a federal agency, especially one that is ripping children away from their parents.

garettmd• 8 years ago

Well, to be fair, the linked post was published in January, well before any of the kid-snatching articles were in the news.

smcl3• 8 years ago

I only just saw the date too, though to be fair ICE have been nasty for quite a while now

code_duck2• 8 years ago

So this technology is probably currently in use to help massive human rights violations go better for the people perpetrating them.

s73v3r_8• 8 years ago

That's fair. I guess I'm used to things being posted to be fairly recent unless otherwise called out in the title.

Arzh• 8 years ago

It's from six months ago, it is being posted now in an effort to cause people to over react. There are a lot of problems with government of all levels siloing their data so even though I don't agree with ICE I also don't see this as a problem.

joering24• 8 years ago

IBM thrived during world war 2 providing Hitler with computer classification mainframes for prisoners. The book title I forgot made even asumption that classification, processing and extermination of “prisoners of war” at such huge scale as Hitler did would not be possible without IBM.

Today, some 70 years later, I doubt you find a person who is not proud of working for IBM, or a tech worker who would not take better paid job at IBM because of their past.

Bottom line: Azure will be just fine.

smcl3• 8 years ago

Oh boy, why on earth would you boast about your collaboration with one of the most controversial US government agencies at a time when they’re on the news for operating what is essentially concentration camps.

jaxbot• 8 years ago

To be fair, this article is from January. Still a controversial/dumb time to brag about working with ICE, but it wasn't published during this press cycle.

smcl3• 8 years ago

Yep just noticed. Eh, still not cool to work with ICE I reckon. They’ve been pretty nasty for a while

philip1209• 8 years ago

"Losing kids while separating families? Azure's high-uptime databases can help!"

joering24• 8 years ago

This article is from January. Perhaps he assumed that Trump is going to, you know, keep his promise to “end Obamas eras policies”. Now hes learning hard lesson this Chief-in-Snakesoil-Pitch was actually lying (im not using this word loosely - he is on a week long tour claiming its Democrats fault and he cannot do nothing anout it [altho senators from the same party say it woudl he a matter of “one phonecall”])

CurtHagenlocher• 8 years ago

Dated January 24th, for what it's worth.

code_duck2• 8 years ago

Oh, so they've had time to get it in place and start trying it out. Maybe they can let us know how it's working. I wonder if that facial recognition has helped them catch any dangerous toddlers who tried to escape?

revx• 8 years ago

Looking at you, the 53 Microsoft employees who signed https://neveragain.tech/

malvosenior7• 8 years ago

The new FedRAMP High ATO validates that Azure Government meets all security and compliance standards necessary to handle ICE’s most sensitive unclassified data, including data that supports the core Agency functions and protects against loss of life.

I think most people would see this as a good thing. A far-left political outlook is over represented in tech, but Microsoft's customer base is much broader than that. It's actually kind of refreshing to see a company act in a non-overtly left-leaning manner. It makes Microsoft look more professional and politically neutral than say Google.

joering24• 8 years ago

The was a good book the title I forgot about, how IBM almost went bankrupt before thriving because of political contracts with Nazi party to design and deliver system to clasify prisoners in concentration camps during Hitler’s era. Seriously this is not a poor-taste joke!!

malvosenior7• 8 years ago

That book is called IBM and The Holocaust and it is indeed very good. IBM wasn't going bankrupt before working with the Nazi's though. It talks about how IBM rolled out punch-card technology originally developed for the census to the Nazi's via its German subsidiaries.

I don't see the parallels here though. Nazi's were detaining and murdering their own citizens. ICE is enforcing existing laws against illegal immigration and it's doing so with transparency. The laws it is enforcing may be controversial to some, but it's not the executive branch's place to write new laws.

thom_nic• 8 years ago

I hate to say it, but demonizing ICE seems like the wrong thing. It's the executive administration that direct ICE and Congress that tells ICE the laws to enforce.

That's not to say they are blameless but we could point fingers at pretty much every federal agency. ICE is just in the crosshairs at the moment.

s73v3r_8• 8 years ago

No, ICE and those who choose to work for them and carry out those orders are just as much to blame. "Following orders" is not an excuse.

drewbug01• 8 years ago

It's unfortunate how quickly this got flagged.

onyva• 8 years ago

What about Microsoft doing the right thing for once by not providing services to USA agencies performing crimes agaist humanity?

Don’t know what are the implications of canceling their contract with ICE or Homeland Security, but they should know they can not become enablers of this criminal policy.

Azure Government and ICE

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