Topic change: ethics; was Sysadmin job opening up at my company inWoburn, MA

[sethg at ropine.com (Seth Gordon)]

Mark Richards wrote:
>>
>>>> -Must be able to obtain Secret security clearance
>>
>>
> 
> Before applying our brainpower to something, we might wish to consider
> what it is we're building.

I interviewed at Aptima a few years ago (although I didn't get hired).
Their focus is on training systems and human-computer interfaces;
judging from their Web site, they are starting to accumulate civilian
customers as well.

If work funded by the military can be put on a moral spectrum, with "the
Internet, back when it was the ARPAnet" on one end and "logistics for
managing secret CIA prisons" on the other end, then the stuff Aptima's
doing seems pretty benign to me.

In these United States, the closer you get to the cutting edge (pardon
the expression) of CS research, and the greater the chance that your
business will depend on the DOD (either as a customer or as a sponsor,
through things like SBIR grants).  I find that unfortunate, but I don't
think a principled refusal to touch any work associated with the
military is going to change that.

(Disclaimer: My own employer is one of those that depends heavily on DOD
contracts; our other big customers are in the oil industry.  Fortunately
for my conscience, we too are starting to attract business from other
sectors of the economy.  I do not have a security clearance.)

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