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Tech workers pledge to never build a database of Muslims

latimes.com

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Re: Tech workers pledge to never build a database of Muslims

#101
post #73

What about a database of people from countries with high propensity for radicalization, for example Tunisia, or Somalia? Paradox: Tunisia is perhaps the most progressive of all the M/E Muslim countries, and yet they are the #1 M/E country in terms of Jihadis. They are overwhelmingly the greatest per/capita Jihadi producers in the world. By far. Tunisia is very small. Networks are very small. 95% chance that a young m…

Could you please provide links to official Toronto murder statistics that back up your claim?

Probably not the previous poster's source, but seemingly reliable articles agree:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/why-so-many-som...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/somali-canadian-s-dea...

Re: Tech workers pledge to never build a database of Muslims

#102
post #36
post #8

It's a ridiculous and naive view of the world. Of course it already exists. For example on facebook. For example in the mosques. Everybody was warned, everybody could have seen this coming. But most people didn't give a fuck. Welcome is post privacy. I didn't need have to be that way. We can still turn this into post-post-privacy. But only if we face what we have already done.

> Everybody was warned, everybody could have seen this coming. There has been nothing coming. Trumps pre-election stuff was BS, nothing will be done. Check back in 4 years. Besides government agencies obviously already have detailed profiles of such things, going far beyond the religion of a subject.

You're ruining their virtue-signaling party.

Re: Tech workers pledge to never build a database of Muslims

#103
post #73

What about a database of people from countries with high propensity for radicalization, for example Tunisia, or Somalia? Paradox: Tunisia is perhaps the most progressive of all the M/E Muslim countries, and yet they are the #1 M/E country in terms of Jihadis. They are overwhelmingly the greatest per/capita Jihadi producers in the world. By far. Tunisia is very small. Networks are very small. 95% chance that a young m…

Could you please provide links to official Toronto murder statistics that back up your claim?

[deleted]

Re: Tech workers pledge to never build a database of Muslims

#104

What about a database of people from countries with high propensity for radicalization, for example Tunisia, or Somalia? Paradox: Tunisia is perhaps the most progressive of all the M/E Muslim countries, and yet they are the #1 M/E country in terms of Jihadis. They are overwhelmingly the greatest per/capita Jihadi producers in the world. By far. Tunisia is very small. Networks are very small. 95% chance that a young m…

> I'm more concerned about the 'populist anti-muslim sentiment' that might arise,

"...that might arise"? What have we been seeing the last year, when the winning presidential candidate proposed banning Muslims from entry to the US, and as recently as a few weeks ago (and well after the election) said with respect to a Muslim registry that "he would implement that [a registry], absolutely" [1].

Meanwhile, various of his surrogates have in recent days (all after the election) floated the idea that the Japanese internment supreme court decision (never struck down!) could be used to justify this registry.

And go check out his core followers at any of the usual hangouts, like Reddit and Breibart, and you'll hear much, much more extreme views on this issue.

1. http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/11/20/donal...

Re: Tech workers pledge to never build a database of Muslims

#107
post #73

What about a database of people from countries with high propensity for radicalization, for example Tunisia, or Somalia? Paradox: Tunisia is perhaps the most progressive of all the M/E Muslim countries, and yet they are the #1 M/E country in terms of Jihadis. They are overwhelmingly the greatest per/capita Jihadi producers in the world. By far. Tunisia is very small. Networks are very small. 95% chance that a young m…

Could you please provide links to official Toronto murder statistics that back up your claim?

It would be illegal to collect that data.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/08/17/a-thorny-history...

>Fantino, then head of 31 Division, told North York’s committee on community, race and ethnic relations that, while blacks made up 6 per cent of the Jane-Finch population, they accounted for 82 per cent of robberies and muggings, 55 per cent of purse-snatchings and 51 per cent of drug offences in the previous year.

>The Star’s Royson James was apparently the only reporter present. He duly filed a story that appeared on the next day’s front page. All hell broke loose.

>Police in Ontario were forbidden to compile race-based crime statistics. Solicitor-General Joan Smith, responsible for law enforcement in the province, castigated Fantino for collecting and releasing data that “accomplishes nothing useful.” Black activist groups and social agencies condemned Fantino for fueling existing prejudices. Police chief Jack Marks insisted the force did not keep race stats.

Re: Tech workers pledge to never build a database of Muslims

#108

Post flagged as fake news. The only people talking about a database of Muslims are the ones trying to be outraged over something they fabricated out of whole cloth.

This is incorrect. And given your history, you know better. Quoth:

> "But that's something your White House would like to implement?" the reporter presses.

> "Oh I would certainly implement that. Absolutely." Trump answers.

> But Trump continues to talk about the logistics of implementing such a database at length.

> "But for Muslims specifically, how do you actually get them registered in a database?" the reporter asks. Trump responds: "It would be just good management. What you have to do is good management procedures and we can do that."

> He also responds to a question about going to mosques to "sign these people up." "Different places, you sign them up at different, but it’s all about management, our country has no management," Trump says.

I feel that we have made a misstep by giving you and your fellow ideological adherents the bat of "fake news" to wield against us in turn, because you are very loud and can use it to continue creating doubt about the real world, but, unfortunately, that was not up to me. But primary sources are easy: I listen to what the guy says, and I react accordingly. And I will neither work on such a project nor work for any client who does. You don't have to act similarly, but you do have to not lie about it.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-muslim-registry/story?i...

Re: Tech workers pledge to never build a database of Muslims

#109
post #2

It's a lovely gesture, and an important sign of solidarity; however, it'a merely that, just a gesture. I hope that SV and the tech industry leverages its wealth and technical legal capabilities to fight these sorts of actions in court, unlike their responses to privacy intrusions by the federal government, British intelligence, and other foreign groups.

Over 1000 people, some of them very prominent, have pledged to quit their jobs if they are asked to do unethical things. How is that "merely a gesture"?

Have they destroyed any of this data yet?

As much fun as it may be to pretend this is a Trump problem, it's a Silicon Valley problem. It's Silicon Valley waking up and realizing that it's all fun and games until someone you don't like gets the data that they have already painstakingly collected, polished, and devoted billions of dollars to processing and extracting features of interest. The existence of people you don't like and the fact that some of them will be someday be in positions of power isn't news, it's a constant fact of life.

I find it a bit disgusting that this is what finally crossed the line when the line should have been considered crossed a long time ago, but I'll take what I can.

Now, what has anyone done about the excessive collection of data, beyond virtue signaling that they don't like Trump? We don't need virtue signaling. We need actions. One of the signs that action has actually been taken would be that some of these companies are going to make less money. If that doesn't happen, this is hot air, so much "it's OK when we do it, but not those guys over there, no way! Now don't you feel better that we said that? BTW, here's a popup that offers you the choice of either giving us everything you have on your phone or being unable to use cell phones. (It's choice.)"

Re: Tech workers pledge to never build a database of Muslims

#110

What about a database of people from countries with high propensity for radicalization, for example Tunisia, or Somalia? Paradox: Tunisia is perhaps the most progressive of all the M/E Muslim countries, and yet they are the #1 M/E country in terms of Jihadis. They are overwhelmingly the greatest per/capita Jihadi producers in the world. By far. Tunisia is very small. Networks are very small. 95% chance that a young m…

As a Tunisian I would like to add a comment:

1- Yes, there is a number of Tunisians that went to Syria. As you have said per/capita it is a large number. There are around 10 Million Tunisians and from 3000 to 8000 fighting in Syria (depending on the source).

2- This is due to several factors: Post-revolution politics, poverty, mistrust in the state institutions and the police, and -most importantly- a previous government that is (allegedly) complicit.

3- There are no official numbers, the Tunisian government said that they have no idea on the exact number. Some Syrian/Turkish parties gave estimates (the numbers you read in the press) but they are not to be trusted to be objective or impartial.

4- If this "database" checks for first and second degree connections, then the entire country would be flagged.

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