
Amazon Is the Invisible Backbone Behind ICE’s Immigration Crackdown - vector_spaces
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612335/amazon-is-the-invisible-backbone-behind-ices-immigration-crackdown/
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HelloFellowDevs
> Palantir pays Amazon approximately $600,000 a month for the use of its
> servers, according to the report’s authors.

I mean... invisible backbone to the visible backbone? Is Apple the invisible
backbone if ICE uses iPhone's to coordinate raids?

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binalpatel
This is a terrible, incendiary headline. They're using AWS to host things -
big whoop.

"All of that data and the algorithms powering ICM are now being migrated to
Amazon Web Services (AWS) in their entirety; Palantir pays Amazon
approximately $600,000 a month for the use of its servers, according to the
report’s authors."

If it was on-prem would they then be targeting the Cisco, or IBM, or whatever
servers used to host the same content?

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plandis
Why stop at Amazon? Seems to me that Intel is the invisible backbone behind
ICE’s immigration crackdown.

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partiallypro
Woah there, this really comes down to a mine in China that providers the
silicon for the chips that Intel built, that are located inside of AWS data
centers.

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raincom
Actually, ICE/USCIS is doing something else with the data. In old days, when
things were not digitized, people used to resort to many tricks: acquire a new
identity and get immigration benefits. Recently, ICE/USCIS has been digitizing
old records like fingerprints; later, they are scanning for any fingerprint
collisions. Now they are going after people for lying on their applications.
This, not migrating to AWS, is the real effect of technology.

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-
security/scann...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-
security/scanning-immigrants-old-fingerprints-us-threatens-to-strip-thousands-
of-
citizenship/2018/06/13/2230d8a2-6f2e-11e8-afd5-778aca903bbe_story.html?utm_term=.f709b17c060a)

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gpapilion
This is more in line with Palantir using AWS as their hosting provider. So
it’s the same as saying amazon is the invisible backbone behind Netflix.

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ok_go
It would be far scarier if a company used political motivation to deny
service.

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toomuchtodo
Businesses are well within their right to refuse service to the government
(anyone, really) if they believe they’re participating in unethical practices.

~~~
hnlurker
Tell that to the religious bakers, or florists. Right of refusal is a
privilege of left-leaning businesses.

