On September 25, the Department of Homeland Security contract awarded $1.3 million to a Connecticut company called Radeco to provide ICE with modified versions of Boston Dynamics’ quadruped robots. But Boston Dynamics workers sent the petition letter with more than 300 signatures—half of them anonymous—to the company’s executives in early September and shared copies with The Boston Globe and WBUR public radio station.

“Many of us have gotten messages from friends and family, asking us in disbelief and horror if this news is true, and how we can live with ourselves if it is,” according to the petition. “The risk for Boston Dynamics is simply too great to continue with this deal.”

The petition described the signatories as employees who normally “love showing off what we do to our friends, family and the world” and who “love challenging ourselves to innovate and change the perception of what robots can do.” The 300 signatures come out of a total Boston Dynamics workforce of approximately 1,400 people.

all 4 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 5 points 1 week ago

Remember: robots aren't individuals, and are thus not officers like real dogs would be. Sniping them or passing them a cocktail is mere vandalism.

Right?

The question is, who gets sued when they murder a child in a car on sketchy pretext?

  • source
  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    They were fine building semi autonomous killbots that would be used what? By the US military on brown people on the other side of the world.

    But brown people on your own side of the world is unconscionable?

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

    Hey software developers in silicon valley were happy to disrupt other people's jobs and circumvent regulations under the guise of "disruption" like it was a good thing. Hotels and taxi drivers with Air B&B and Uber/waymo and now AI does it to everyone, including software developers. As fine a leopards ate my face as any, perhaps even an "I, as a face eating leopard, ate my own face" moment.

    This is no different. Boston Robotics employees won't realize what they've done until their creations are turned on them.

    Schadenfreude is cold comfort, but its the best we have at the moment.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 8 points 1 week ago

    The robot leopard eating faces company employees: certainly these robots will not eat faces.

  • source
  • 7 comments in c/crimes_of_ice@lemmy.4d2.org view that post
    [–] 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 child)

    but executives stood by the deal, while saying the robots would not be weaponized

    Even if that was the only problem, even if they signed a paper agreeing to penalties if that claim was broken; I still wouldn't want it or believe them.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • Don’t protest openly. Instead, build stealthy, plausibly deniable backdoors.

    If the regime wants to play fucky-fuck games with engineers, we can get extremely creative with malicious compliance.

  • source
  • [–] 31 points 1 week ago

    "these were supposed to be used to kill brown peoplein the middle east!"

    • Boston Dynamics employees
  • source
  • [–] 19 points 1 week ago

    They work for the evil murder robot company. What were they expecting?

  • source
  • [–] 10 points 1 week ago

    What a bunch of useful idiots. What did they think they were building? Like, how can you be literate and this ignorant of history?

  • source
  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago

    This was always going to happen.

  • source
  • 5 comments in c/gestapo_usa@lemmy.dbzer0.com view that post
    [–] [S] 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Imagine working at Boston Dynamics and not seeing this coming.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 0 points 1 week ago

    Well, to be fair... so-called "corporate culture" does do awful things to your brain - especially when you're young and naive. The cognitive dissonance (that is essentially mandatory) is so thick you could make (extremely toxic) cheese out of it.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago

    That's the line? That's what they choose to say is too far?

  • source
  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago

    "I thought the machine gun turret was for sport duck hunting".

  • source