Oracle started as a CIA project (2014)
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Oracle started as a CIA project (2014)
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Re: Oracle started as a CIA project (2014)
#2Through In-Q-Tel, the CIA invested in a LOT of companies who were aiming to solve the problems they had. Google was another very early investment by In-Q-Tel on behalf of the NSA because Google's stated goal -- to collect, organize, and make sense of all of the world's data -- overlaps with what the NSA's goal is (and it's possible that Google might come up with better ideas and tech for doing it than the NSA's brain trust).
If these agencies were NOT investing in potential technical solutions that would be a cause for concern.
Read more about In-Q-Tel and their investments here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-Q-Tel
Re: Oracle started as a CIA project (2014)
#3So did Google Earth. The Internet itself was funded by ARPA, a DoD agency. I think it is a good thing: the military will always be doing military research, but at least in the US its fruits often become available to the public.
Re: Oracle started as a CIA project (2014)
#4Through In-Q-Tel, the CIA invested in a LOT of companies who were aiming to solve the problems they had. Google was another very early investment by In-Q-Tel on behalf of the NSA because Google's stated goal -- to collect, organize, and make sense of all of the world's data -- overlaps with what the NSA's goal is (and it's possible that Google might come up with better ideas and tech for doing it than the NSA's brain…
Note the "problems they had" aren't necessarily "they needed a better database technology". Oracle's mission is to have all bits of data in the world processed or stored on an Oracle system (source: I worked for Oracle, this was the internal mission statement).
Oracle collects:
1. Who is staying in which hotels and in which rooms
2. Who is eating at which restaurants and going to which entertainment facilities
3. Who is getting what health services
4. Who is travelling where across travel industry
5. Who is working for which companies in what roles and how much are they paid
This is incredibly powerful intelligence the CIA could not NOT want. Replace "who" in any of the above with a politician in a country of interest, or other person of interest/intelligence target.
It's sort of like Facebook getting CIA funding. CIA definitely has interest to know intimate details of everyone's lives, who is sharing what information with who, and how social fabric in different countries are organized. They/we would be crazy not to. Taking the converse: The CIA wasn't funding Facebook because they really needed to socialize more with friends and family. Please see thread below. CIA investment in Facebook has not been established.
Re: Oracle started as a CIA project (2014)
#5No post body was provided.
Re: Oracle started as a CIA project (2014)
#6Through In-Q-Tel, the CIA invested in a LOT of companies who were aiming to solve the problems they had. Google was another very early investment by In-Q-Tel on behalf of the NSA because Google's stated goal -- to collect, organize, and make sense of all of the world's data -- overlaps with what the NSA's goal is (and it's possible that Google might come up with better ideas and tech for doing it than the NSA's brain…
This is both a a very US-centric and trust in authority figures take.
For the rest of the world however, and people who understand that power should have limits, and that a distrust in authority figures should be the default state the idea that companies like Oracle and Google are mere extensions of the CIA/NSA is terrifying.
Re: Oracle started as a CIA project (2014)
#7So did Google Earth. The Internet itself was funded by ARPA, a DoD agency. I think it is a good thing: the military will always be doing military research, but at least in the US its fruits often become available to the public.
APRAnet was a project to build a communications network without a centralized node to determine routing so that if large chunks of the physical network were destroyed (nuclear attack is the typical scenario envisioned) then the network would dynamically figure out how to route around the broken/missing network segments and traffic would get through. Rumor is that the first real-world test of this ability was the first Gulf War when the allied coalition physically destroyed upwards of 80% of Iraqi telecoms... but messages on the Iraqi network still got through, albeit delayed after bouncing around alternative routes outside of Iraq before reentering near the destination node.
Re: Oracle started as a CIA project (2014)
#8Through In-Q-Tel, the CIA invested in a LOT of companies who were aiming to solve the problems they had. Google was another very early investment by In-Q-Tel on behalf of the NSA because Google's stated goal -- to collect, organize, and make sense of all of the world's data -- overlaps with what the NSA's goal is (and it's possible that Google might come up with better ideas and tech for doing it than the NSA's brain…
Not just investment. "Highlands Forum", DLI (NSF, NASA and DARPA), MDDS. Sergey Brin was literally funded by NSA and CIA under MDDS. Google was the result of his research under this grant.
https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/how-the-cia-made-goo...
Re: Oracle started as a CIA project (2014)
#9Through In-Q-Tel, the CIA invested in a LOT of companies who were aiming to solve the problems they had. Google was another very early investment by In-Q-Tel on behalf of the NSA because Google's stated goal -- to collect, organize, and make sense of all of the world's data -- overlaps with what the NSA's goal is (and it's possible that Google might come up with better ideas and tech for doing it than the NSA's brain…
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If there were no CIA agents inside Google that would be a cause for concern.
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If the CIA did not control Google that would be a cause for concern.
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Re: Oracle started as a CIA project (2014)
#10Through In-Q-Tel, the CIA invested in a LOT of companies who were aiming to solve the problems they had. Google was another very early investment by In-Q-Tel on behalf of the NSA because Google's stated goal -- to collect, organize, and make sense of all of the world's data -- overlaps with what the NSA's goal is (and it's possible that Google might come up with better ideas and tech for doing it than the NSA's brain…
This is both a a very US-centric and trust in authority figures take. For the rest of the world however, and people who understand that power should have limits, and that a distrust in authority figures should be the default state the idea that companies like Oracle and Google are mere extensions of the CIA/NSA is terrifying.
Who said anything about trusting In-Q-Tel, the companies they invest in (ahem, GOOGLE!), or what the agencies are doing with the fruits of their investment? I personally think the CIA should be abolished and the NSA put on a very short leash with lots of oversight. But in terms of doing what they do wisely it cannot be argued that In-Q-Tel gives numerous US Government entities access to IP and tech they otherwise wouldn't have gotten.