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Of 8 Tech Companies, Only Twitter Says It Would Refuse To Help Build Muslim Registry For Trump (theintercept.com)

On the campaign trail last year, President-elect Donald Trump said he would consider requiring Muslim-Americans to register with a government database. While he has back-stepped on a number of campaign promises after being elected president, Trump and his transition team have recently resurfaced the idea to create a national Muslim registry. In response, The Intercept contacted nine of the "most prominent" technology companies in the United States "to ask if they would sell their services to help create a national Muslim registry." Twitter was the only company that responded with "No." The Intercept reports: Even on a purely hypothetical basis, such a project would provide American technology companies an easy line to draw in the sand -- pushing back against any effort to track individuals purely (or essentially) on the basis of their religious beliefs doesn't take much in the way of courage or conviction, even by the thin standards of corporate America. We'd also be remiss in assuming no company would ever tie itself to such a nakedly evil undertaking: IBM famously helped Nazi Germany computerize the Holocaust. (IBM has downplayed its logistical role in the Holocaust, claiming in a 2001 statement that "most [relevant] documents were destroyed or lost during the war.") With all this in mind, we contacted nine different American firms in the business of technology, broadly defined, with the following question: "Would [name of company], if solicited by the Trump administration, sell any goods, services, information, or consulting of any kind to help facilitate the creation of a national Muslim registry, a project which has been floated tentatively by the president-elect's transition team?" After two weeks of calls and emails, only three companies provided an answer, and only one said it would not participate in such a project. A complete tally is below.

Facebook: No answer. Twitter: "No," and a link to this blog post, which states as company policy a prohibition against the use, by outside developers, of "Twitter data for surveillance purposes. Period." Microsoft: "We're not going to talk about hypotheticals at this point," and a link to a company blog post that states that "we're committed to promoting not just diversity among all the men and women who work here, but [...] inclusive culture" and that "it will remain important for those in government and the tech sector to continue to work together to strike a balance that protects privacy and public safety in what remains a dangerous time." Google: No answer. Apple: No answer. IBM: No answer. Booz Allen Hamilton: Declined to comment. SRA International: No answer.

4 of 588 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Those who something, something by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    This is how what starts? Twitter has been know to harbor known terrorists without lifting a finger to do anything about it. They allow them to post their execution videos and pictures without a twitch from twitter. And then when it comes to cooperation, they seem to be the least cooperative to help capture these people. But when it comes to "hate crime", oh man, better call the thought police right away!

  2. Re:Those who something, something by gweihir · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Indeed. Next step is that Muslims will have to wear a crescent moon visible on the top clothing and then it is concentration camps and gas chambers. Whatever you think of Trump otherwise, this idea alone disqualifies him from wielding power of any kind, he just does not understand the concept of ethics and has no insight into human history. Especially as a majority of Muslims are decent people that place respecting others above their religion. Of course, with any large group of people, even if there are just a few bad apples in relative numbers, it can be a large number in absolutes. It is however completely unacceptable to punish the decent majority for the bad minority.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  3. Re:More Fake News by johanw · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    And without those companies help, there is no way to find out who may be radicalized, so keep the safe line and keep all muslims out. Europe should do the same, and I think many countries will after the next elections.

  4. Re:Those who something, something by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Did what for London?

    The muslims in London conspired to drive up property prices by educating themselves, earning good salaries, and buying homes. They also conspired to destroy all the white owned restaurants by making way better food. This guy is their leader.