The Intercept’s Sam Biddle asked nine tech companies if they would help authorities create a national registry of known muslims—one of president-elect Donald Trump’s campaign suggestions. Only Twitter would go on the record to state that it would not co-operate with such a list.
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.” which states as company policy a prohibition against the use, by outside developers, of “Twitter data for surveillance purposes. Period.”
Bravo. It takes courage and planning for publicly-traded businesses to take a hostile stand on hot potatoes like this, and Twitter bothered. Compare to IBM, whose CEO wrote Trump a slobbering mash note promising the services of her company.
Seven of the other companies didn’t respond at all. Microsoft responded with “We’re not going to talk about hypotheticals at this point.”
We’re asking if tech firms are going to cooperate. But when it comes to inferring affiliations from the mass surveillance of private data, it’s just the sort of thing whistleblowers warn us is already going on. Trump’s off-the-cuff blather about official registries isn’t about what is known, but about making it acceptable.
That said, Biddle’s post was met this weekend by dismissive sneering from the Gilfoyles: a good reminder that Silicon Valley is cynical and willing, and that fatalism is the best policy.
Update: Duped Cory.