
Peter Thiel Says FBI, CIA Should Probe Google - kevmo
https://www.axios.com/peter-thiel-says-fbi-cia-should-probe-google-9846a042-e689-49bc-bdc7-595988ce5d8c.html
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cagenut
holy shit read the quotes

"so thoroughly infiltrated that they have engaged in the seemingly treasonous
decision to work with the Chinese military and not with the US military"

"I would like them to be asked in a not excessively gentle manner."

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swebs
>[Google's] decision to work with the Chinese military

Huh, this is the first time I'm hearing of this claim. Apparently they're only
indirectly supporting the Chinese military so it's a nuanced issue.

[https://www.thedailybeast.com/google-snubbed-the-
pentagonbut...](https://www.thedailybeast.com/google-snubbed-the-pentagonbut-
not-the-chinese-military)

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javajosh
As an aside, it must be really nice to get major press coverage of you
expressing an opinion. It's like a superpower.

~~~
throwaway5752
It's also nice to be a billionaire with close ties to the president, being on
Facebooks BoD, founding a domestic surveillance company with a number of
defense and law enforcement contracts.

It's also nice to be invited to a conference in DC as a speaker and say the
government should interrogate your competitors.

Given those circumstances, it seems like getting press coverage for this is
predictable and unsurprising.

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paxys
Hmm but Facebook is A-ok. Wonder why?

~~~
ailideex
Why is Facebook A-ok?

~~~
cascom
He is on the board

~~~
ailideex
I'm not sure that being on the board of a company means that you are okay with
everything the company does.

~~~
jfengel
But it's still dubious when a board member is calling out a competitor for a
problem that they also share. It looks a lot less like a sincere desire for
protection and more like calling the cops on somebody you don't like.

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wyldfire
_shrug_. Counterintelligence is already one of the FBI's high priority
missions. Why should they probe beyond whatever they're already doing?

> how many foreign intelligence agencies have infiltrated your Manhattan
> Project for AI?

The FBI doesn't need a special directive to try and find this out. And it's in
Google's interest to cooperate.

> I would like them to be asked in a not excessively gentle manner.

Love or hate the GOOG, they are a US power company that delivers a lot of good
things to the people of the US, California, and the world. Maybe it should be
`s/probe/protect/`.

> seemingly treasonous decision to work with the Chinese military and not with
> the US military...

Is this true? This seems like an exaggeration of [1].

> “The work that Google is doing in China is indirectly benefiting the Chinese
> military,” Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
> Staff, said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

[1] [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-
google/googles-...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-
google/googles-work-in-china-benefiting-chinas-military-u-s-general-
idUSKCN1QV296)

~~~
beezle
Disagree that it is the FBIs job to "protect" domestic companies from possible
foreign corporate and/or govt espionage. Should be up to the company to
protect itself. If and when it believes a _crime_ has been committed, fine
call in the FBI.

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wbronitsky
So a guy who sits on the FB board and runs his own US defense contracting
company says the US Government should investigate the direct competitor of his
companies, after donating large sums of money to the campaign of the current
US President.

A person who has so much faith in the US government that he has purchased
citizenship in New Zeland.

A person who has questioned the US 19th Amendment, which gave women the right
to vote.

Why should we listen to him?

~~~
wang_li
Are they a direct competitor in this space? From the quotes he seems to be
asking why they have chosen not to be a competitor.

~~~
wbronitsky
Google is a direct competitor to Facebook in the Ad space.

Google is a direct competitor to Palantir in the Defense space.

I’m sure he is worried about the latter, as they can test the infra with the
Chinese, then sell it to the Americans, in some not too far off future.

Remember, we have always been at war with Eurasia. Or was it Eastasia?

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titzer
His questions are really missing the mark.

Number one should be: What information have you collected on members of all
governments and militaries in the world using your insanely broad surveillance
network across Google Search, Adsense, and Android, specifically GLS?

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astrea
They should probe Peter Thiel, honestly.

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ailideex
Why?

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lettergram
This is kind of a weird snippet - where / when did Peter Thiel say this?

It seems like a fair statement, but without context, it almost seems made up
and / or missing some pieces of information.

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_jal
Apparently at this conference:

[https://nationalconservatism.org](https://nationalconservatism.org)

If wanting the FBI to beat up Google execs for leaking AI research is 'a fair
statement', what does an unfair one look like?

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spamizbad
Ah the classic conservative stance of small government, limited regulation
and... (checks notes)... siccing the government's bloated alphabet agencies on
your competition.

~~~
westmeal
Great guy.

