The Pentagon As Silicon Valley's Incubator 27
An anonymous reader writes "The Times has an article about how people coming out of the Pentagon are helping create a boom in technology start-ups. From the article: 'In the last year, former Department of Defense and intelligence agency operatives have headed to Silicon Valley to create technology start-ups specializing in tools aimed at thwarting online threats. Frequent reports of cyberattacks have expanded the demand for security tools, in both the public and private sectors, and venture capital money has followed. In 2012, more than $1 billion in venture financing poured into security start-ups, more than double the amount in 2010, according to the National Venture Capital Association.'"
World [cyber]war 3 (Score:5, Insightful)
I see where this may be going (Score:4, Insightful)
When I lived in the DC area, the first thing that struck me was how many people asked me if I had a clearance. It was all about having a clearance and working on government projects there. It was kind of sickening to me to realize that -- all these people trying to suck at the government teat. And my impression was that no one was interested in working hard, doing a good job or doing anything interesting at all. It was about having government work and making large amounts of money. (Lack of enthusiasm is one of many key problems with government wouldn't you agree?)
And for government to be a driving factor in industry...? Any industry? It's also the sign of a problem... problems really. We know what we get when we mix military and industry -- a system that destroys people, property and nations for profit -- one where there can be no world peace because in order to sustain that business model, trouble must always be stirred up somewhere at all times. Do the words "invented threats" ring any bells or strike any chords?
As if the US military industrial complex isn't enough of a problem for the world (because you know the US isn't supposed to have a standing army by law) we also have the spy industry to deal with... it has always been there, but spies historically keep a low profile. These days, not so much.
In similar news... (Score:2, Insightful)
former NSA agents are outperforming even the insider traders on the stock market. You have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide, right?