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Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

techcrunch.com

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Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#11

Post by xivzgrev »

mharrig1 wrote: post #3

So Mark Cuban wants to lean into exactly what DOGE is pushing by putting himself in the middle of the Governmental to Private shift? That doesn't surprise me and gives more evidence that Cuban is not dissimilar to Musk, just that he has much better PR.

I don’t think they’re similar at all.

Musk is cutting things left and right, creating large messes and giving himself hand outs. He is making things less efficient (vs more).

Cuban sees the mess, and an opportunity to make some money while also providing value to the government.

I guess they’re similar in taking advantage of the moment and looking to make money, but I don’t see how Cuban’s proposal is destructive, unlike Musk’s actions.

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#12

Post by dralley »

xivzgrev wrote: post #5

They built / manage login.gov? Oh boy. It’s one thing if Twitter has bugs. It’s another thing if people have bugs while trying to login or signup to government services. Or hackers finding vulnerabilities and no one to fix them?

> Or hackers finding vulnerabilities and no one to fix them?

That's apparently no longer a concern.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/28/trump-russia...

The Trump administration has publicly and privately signaled that it does not believe Russia represents a cyber threat against US national security or critical infrastructure, marking a radical departure from longstanding intelligence assessments.

...

A recent memo at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa) set out new priorities for the agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security and monitors cyber threats against US critical infrastructure. The new directive set out priorities that included China and protecting local systems. It did not mention Russia.

A person familiar with the matter who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity said analysts at the agency were verbally informed that they were not to follow or report on Russian threats, even though this had previously been a main focus for the agency.

The person said work that was being done on something “Russia-related” was in effect “nixed”.

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#14

Post by gortok »

xivzgrev wrote: post #5

They built / manage login.gov? Oh boy. It’s one thing if Twitter has bugs. It’s another thing if people have bugs while trying to login or signup to government services. Or hackers finding vulnerabilities and no one to fix them?

login.gov is one of the few government services that as a private sector techie I'm in awe of. They really knocked it out of the park with login.gov, and I can only assume it was politics that had the IRS use ID.me instead of login.gov.

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#16

Post by trial3 »

hiddencost wrote: post #7
mharrig1 wrote: post #3

So Mark Cuban wants to lean into exactly what DOGE is pushing by putting himself in the middle of the Governmental to Private shift? That doesn't surprise me and gives more evidence that Cuban is not dissimilar to Musk, just that he has much better PR.

I mean Musk is carrying out a coup, and Cuban is trying to invest in some programmers. I think there's some day light here.

but the core problem to me feels like “billionaires in charge of what should be government functions.” this is still that bad for that reason even if Cuban is funnier on Bluesky

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#17

Post by muglug »

This is exactly what the people who shut down 18F want: a shrunken government reliant on private contractors for basic service needs.

There’s a famous Reagan quote that the nine most terrifying words are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. That soundbite influenced a generation of small-government conservatives who ignored the big qualifier that followed — he was actually announcing more government support for farmers, a big handout to a mostly-Republican constituency: https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/presidents-new...

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#18

Post by dingnuts »

JansjoFromIkea wrote: post #9
mharrig1 wrote: post #3

So Mark Cuban wants to lean into exactly what DOGE is pushing by putting himself in the middle of the Governmental to Private shift? That doesn't surprise me and gives more evidence that Cuban is not dissimilar to Musk, just that he has much better PR.

yeah I had to step back from this when I saw it* on my feed because I was so disenchanted by how positive the replies were. Not even sure what their issues with DOGE are if they think this is a great solution... ETA: I'm on about his bluesky post, to be clear, not this thread

the issue with Elon Musk's involvement is the WAY these things are being done. If what was previously funded through coercion -- tax dollars -- can be funded through voluntary charity of a billionaire that is 100% a good thing and we can still be upset about the rule of law and all that while being happy that billionaires are stepping up to pay their fair share when the tax money is taken away.

HOWEVER Congress has NOT reduced the budget so everything I just said is bullshit and hypothetical until some of that money starts coming back into our pockets.

But I am trying to remain optimistic. These are challenging times.

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#19

Post by mattbrewsbytes »

Privatization is what a lot of people believe is the answer, thinking that there is so much waste and useless things the Federal government does. These people must have never worked at a large corporation. I have a relative in the federal government and we would share stories because the dysfunctions are basically the same.

Any large organization of humans working uses a pyramid organization since like the middle ages (or even well before). There will be inept people, waste, corruption, people stealing, etc. but there will also be the vast majority trying to do a good job and feel satisfaction in their work. It doesn't matter if its the federal government or a private corporation, its simply a trade-off of the organization structure. I don't think we, as humans, know of a better/different way to organize that would be more effective.

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#20

Post by croes »

mharrig1 wrote: post #3

So Mark Cuban wants to lean into exactly what DOGE is pushing by putting himself in the middle of the Governmental to Private shift? That doesn't surprise me and gives more evidence that Cuban is not dissimilar to Musk, just that he has much better PR.

The question is what would you do if you were Cuban?
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