Oracle started as a CIA project (2014)

Post by spullara » Thu, Aug 25, 2022, 7:49 PM UTC

createdapril24 wrote: post #4

mikece wrote: post #2

Through 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…

Post by pigeons » Thu, Aug 25, 2022, 7:54 PM UTC

idiotsecant wrote: post #41

createdapril24 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Are you suggesting the CIA has ways to exfiltrate data from Oracle databases assisted by Oracle but without knowledge or consent of the user? That would be a pretty big deal. If not, what are you saying?

Post by akira2501 » Thu, Aug 25, 2022, 8:27 PM UTC

spullara wrote: post #51

createdapril24 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

That is a pretty far cry from Oracle having the data, especially pre-cloud. I think you are conflating "an Oracle system" with a system that Oracle actually controls rather than and end user that using the software. This is like saying a hard drive manufacturer has all the data that are on their hard drives.

Post by larrik » Thu, Aug 25, 2022, 8:31 PM UTC

photochemsyn wrote: post #14

All the infrastructure is in place to convert the United States to an East German STASI system. Most of the individual personal data that an outfit like STASI would use to control popular opinion (media job opportunities), academic and governmental job opportunities, 'social credit' scores, etc. is already stored the data archives of Google, Facebook, Oracle, ISPs, Apple, the NSA / FBI / CIA files, etc. The only real…

Post by stevehawk » Thu, Aug 25, 2022, 8:43 PM UTC

jussion_zoonist wrote: post #31

mikece wrote: post #2

Through 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…

IIRC Google began with a DARPA grant but they were not directly funded by In-Q-Tel. However, In-Q-Tel invested in a different company that Google acquired which was the basis for Google Earth and through that acquisition In-Q-Tel gained shares in Google.