Those working on Microsoft’s augmented reality headset, the Hololens, are petitioning against the tech giant, as they’ve become upsetted by the potential uses for the device. Last year, Microsoft and the United States Army signed a contract together, so that the technology within the Hololens could be used to create an Integrated Visual Augmentation System, which would “increase lethality by enhancing the ability to detect, decide and engage before the enemy”. The contract is worth about $479 million dollars, with Microsoft’s president Brad Smith defending it, stating, “We believe in the strong defense of the United States and we want the people who defend it to have access to the nation's best technology, including from Microsoft."

A group of employees at Microsoft did not share the same views. Called “Microsoft Workers 4 Good”, they addressed an open letter to the Chief Executive and President of the company on February 22nd, demanding that Microsoft dissolve the contract, enact new ethical guidelines, and prevent the Hololens project from being used to create weapons technology. Some of the workers expressed discontent knowing that they helped develop the technology used in the headset, only for the contract with the Army to be signed after they had worked on Hololens, without their knowledge. Some alleged that they believed their work would instead be going towards the health field, or for space exploration. A petition formed by the same group received over 100 signatures in the first day.

Microsoft has not given an official response at this time, only saying that they “appreciate feedback from employees”.

Source

 

[Sp4rkl0n]

Militarysoft Hololens - Now with innocent people marking so you can kill them faster (TM)

 

[Bladexdsl]

the US army is only gonna fuck it up anyway just like they fuck up everything else

 

[anhminh]

“We believe in the strong defense of the United States and we want the people who defend it to have access to the nation's best technology, including from Microsoft."

"We believe in the deep military pocket of United States and we want the tax money to spend more on our useless junk to defend us from the threat we created, including from Microsoft."

 

[Taleweaver]

“increase lethality by enhancing the ability to detect, decide and engage before the enemy”

Yyyyyyyeaahhh...isn't it time we start calling "department of defense" for what it really is? Simply calling it "department of offense" sounds pretty reasonable. That way you can at the very least avoid the sort of ridiculous situations like in the past:

US Army: we should now attack qsfkhjiruhiklhnkistan!
Navo: huh? Why? Our intelligence show that they've got nothing but rocks, sand and a few camels.
US Army: that's not true! They've also got oil! Oh, and...erm...some very dangerous stuff that we picked up on our hololens!
Navo: really? Lemme see?
*vague image of a cloud is shown*
Navo: ...did you really spend 429 million dollar on this?
US Army: yeah. But while you were watching, we nuked qsfkhjiruhiklhnkistan back to the stone age. Which isn't so bad since they weren't that advanced to begin with.
Navo: what? So you just attacked a random country?
US Army: Random? of course not! They hate our guts! Ever since we attacked them and pillaged their resources, our popularity in the region is terrible. We just gotta defend our country.

 

[sarkwalvein]

That sounds like Irakistan... but I really wouldn't put an -istan next to it given they're not so friendly with their neighbour Iranistan.

 

[FAST6191]

I did find a certain amusement during all those videos from war zones this last however long where they were using xbox 360 controllers to pilot things (nominally as they reckoned their people would be more familiar with them but eh).

Anyway there has long been something of an anti military bent among hackers and programmers which is fair enough really. The hacker mindset does rather clash with the cannon fodder military one.

I can't say I have any strong feelings either way -- if the programmers don't care to see their work used for such things then that is fine, by all means voice an objection and maybe it will be heard. If it is as cutting edge as some seem to reckon then it might be hard to fill their places all that quickly (deep learning, computer vision and communications packages able to handle stuff here all being individually fairly high end skillsets, the merger of all three then being even more rare and hard to come by). At the same time I don't find anything terribly objectionable about using such tech. The programmers are far from without a leg to stand on though -- personal preference counting for a lot here.
I do find the US' practical veneration of soldiers to be odd (and the history of it even more amusing) and almost unique in the world with any comparable veneration is the domain of despots and tyrants. Around here ex military is usually ex employable (though despite nominal claims otherwise it is commonly so in the US as well if my observations are anything to go by).
As far as "we are not an empire builder a la Rome" then no, that was found to be too expensive by the time we got deep water ships and gunpowder so instead token leaders were appointed (see the later stages British Empire) and even that was hard to handle so now "leaders friendly to US interests" are "installed" and the red carpet rolled out for their countries. Granted as Europe is probably not going to get its act together any time soon I would rather see the US do it than China or BRICS... though the US is failing spectacularly here where China is doing very very well if their dealings with Africa and South America (plus no small chunk of Europe either) are anything to go by.

 

[ken28]

How naive they are.... They life in the USA... It doesnt matter whether they sell it or not if it's deemed a worthwhile war asset the military can just take it. Them getting paid for it is the better deal

 

[DarkKaine]

Who needs wallhack in a sandbox tho?

 

[Minox]

Not sure I'd personally be against working for the military. It's just that I have my doubts that they'd actually want someone like me working for them.

 

[drazenm]

Bill Gates is a nazi, nothing new there, has been against humanity for a long, long time.

 

[Owenge]

*360 no scopes intensify*

 

[Anunnymous]

So the blue screen potentially causing real death...

 

[Dr.Hacknik]

You're an idiot

No u. No seriously, thanks for the compliment.

 

[chrisrlink]

Well now M$ knows who to fire.....

um i think the workers are protected by some whistleblower clause or a wrongful termination lawsuit could be filed (and won if they can link their termination to the petition afaik it's illegal to fire over such a thing then again what company doesn't do more illegal things to get out of legal trouble? (short of murder....I hope)

 

[Ritsuki]

Just because they're not writing letters about other things, doesn't mean they don't care. They aren't actively involved in those other things. Perhaps they turned down jobs that would involve those things and instead chose to work on consumer electronics rather than getting involved in helping kill people.


The world has more nuance than "things that have some sort of connection with the military and things that don't". This will blow your mind, but as I previously stated, I straight up rejected even discussing a position about working on drones because I wanted nothing to do with drone strikes and the like. And yet I am currently in the defense industry working on other military systems that I am okay with. Because, you know, there's nuance in the world.

Don't get me wrong, to me it's just a bit easy to work with one of the biggest IT company in the world and expect them not to have ties with the army. Microsoft already has worked with the army, so not joining them is fine, but complaining after and like that shows imho that they might be a bit naive. Like you said the world is not black or white, and it feels like they think that Microsoft is white when they've always been on the gray side.

 

[chaoskagami]

Why does this sound like the plot of a science fiction novel?

Probably because the world is inching closer and closer to a cyberpunk dystopia with every day that passes.

 

[grey72]

Probably because the world is inching closer and closer to a cyberpunk dystopia with every day that passes.

A boring, placated dystopia.
The worst kind of dystopia.

 

[Ratatattat]

Not funny how many uneducated trolls bash the American military. Especially when their existence probably was, at one time, dependent upon it.

 

[FAST6191]

Don't get me wrong, to me it's just a bit easy to work with one of the biggest IT company in the world and expect them not to have ties with the army. Microsoft already has worked with the army, so not joining them is fine, but complaining after and like that shows imho that they might be a bit naive. Like you said the world is not black or white, and it feels like they think that Microsoft is white when they've always been on the gray side.

There is a difference between selling the military a database server* so they can try to keep track of how many rifles they have, and who should have them, and developing their bleeding edge computer vision IFF (Identification, friend or foe) system. Especially if it turns out you were training it on something like home security (no great issue if it detects me stumbling around drunk in the garden) and it gets reused straight up for something to direct fire. For some it is a minor abstraction, one the military itself at times notes -- "I did not fire the cannon, I just loaded it" or even "I did not fire the cannon, I just fed the guy that loaded it"), and has noted something like it for a very long time.

*though some hackers and coders would draw a line there as well ( https://help.mp3tag.de/misc_license.html ) I would agree that if you take the job then you expect it.

Also 10:20

 

[JavaScribe]

Which is why we should strap arm mounted nukes to our soldiers.

If we nuke someone, they nuke us. I'm sure the US would have nuked a few countries if not for the fact that they had nukes of their own. (Whether or not it'd be right is another question for another time.)
Also, that's a poor choice on so many levels that I don't even know where to begin. You'd want it in a backpack, for starters.
A backpack in a few layers of safes buried far underground in New Mexico... or the Pacific. Wait, no, environment. Can nukes just not exist? Wait, that means one huge reason to stay out of war doesn't exist. Well then.

Funny thing about nukes, they prevent war by making war a scenario where even the winners lose.