Bonum Certa Men Certa

Why We Illuminate IBM's Dark History (and Present)



IBM and Trump Tower
Yes, the apple falls not too far from the tree it originally came from (and yes, those buildings are geographically adjacent, a stone-throw away from one another)



Summary: There's a fictional version of history floating about, glorifying IBM as a champion of "diversity" and glamourising Thomas Watson (who had a major product named after him); the public deserves better understanding of where IBM derived -- and still derives -- money and power from

IBM is by far the most influential company in GNU/Linux development because it bought Red Hat. We, as GNU/Linux users, need to understand the new guardian or steward. Over the pasts year IBM has been super-busy bombarding the media with messages that say completely the opposite of what people are supposed to find. IBM is (internally at least) very much aware of the past and the need to darken/reduce linkage to that past. Think of it as "googlebombing" (IBM very blatantly engaged in a "googlebombing" campaign after it turned out what it had done for NYPD). IBM's "all in" when it comes to Donald Trump's dark and oppressive agenda. IBM is profiting from racism and segregation. It's not even diverse. Those who think IBM is a very diverse company are likely the victims of those "googlebombing" campaigns.



"Think of it as "googlebombing" (IBM very blatantly engaged in a "googlebombing" campaign after it turned out what it had done for NYPD)."Thomas Watson, the CEO of IBM at the time that he received a medal from Hitler, is not the exception. Over the years IBM profited a great deal from abusive acts and gross violations of human rights. IBM as a company even named one of their current biggest projects/products "Watson" in honour of him and we're expected to look the other way, focusing instead on supposed harms of words used to communicate IBM's dark history.⁣

Nazi poster/adFalse "ethics" (synthetic corporate surrogate of real ethics) are used to muzzle critics of corporate abuse in the name of "professionalism"... (i.e. blind and uncritical obedience to corporate power)

The image to the left is no arbitrary placement. It's an ad from the Third Reich, advertising the capability IBM gave the Nazi regime with tabulation machines.

"Let people decide what to buy based on the underlying facts, not soundbites and "googlebombing" campaigns."Techrights has long resisted censorship, antagonised liars, and opposed racism. Pointing out what IBM really is may not be necessary but an imperative, a duty. Let people decide what to buy based on the underlying facts, not soundbites and "googlebombing" campaigns.

Speaking of "bombing", don't ask what IBM did for nuclear weapons and see what was discussed last night in IRC. "IBM was involved in the "modernization" of the Indiana welfare system," Ryan recalled. It was a very major blunder. It is also very recent.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Fourth Estate or Missing Fourth Pillar
"The term Fourth Estate or fourth power refers to the press and news media in explicit capacity of reporting the News" -Wikipedia on Fourth Estate
LLMs Are Not a Form of Intelligence (They Never Will Be)
Butterflies are smarter than "chatGPT"
Business Software Alliance (BSA), Microsoft, and AstroTurfing Online (Also in the Trump Administration Groomed by BSA and Microsoft)
Has Washington become openWashington? Where the emphasis is openwashing rather than Open(Source)Washington?
Windows at 1%
Quit throwing taxpayers' money at Microsoft, especially when it fails to fulfil basic needs and instead facilitates espionage by foreign and very hostile nations
 
Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part VII
By Dr. Andy Farnell
BetaNews is Still 'Shitposting' About Trump and Porn (Two Analysers Say This 'Shitposting' Comes From LLMs)
Probably some SEO garbage, prompted with words like "porn" and "trump" to stitch together other people's words
Market Share of Vista 11 Said to be Going Down in Europe
one plausible explanation is that gs.statcounter.com is actually misreporting the share of Vista 11, claiming that it's higher than it really is
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, November 17, 2024
Links 17/11/2024: Pakistan Broke, Tyson 'Crashes' or Knocks Over Netflix
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/11/2024: Nachtigall Planned, Exodus at Twitter
Links for the day
Links 17/11/2024: China's Diplomacy and Gazprom Setback
Links for the day
Sudan Has Reached a State of Android Domination (93% Market Share, All-Time High According to statCounter)
countries at war buy fewer laptops?
[Meme] Just Do It?
'FSF' Europe (Microsoft) and FSF
Microsoft Front Groups Against the FSF, Home of GPL, GNU, and Free Software
Much of the money (not all of it) comes from the criminals at Redmond
Centralisation is Dooming the Web, RSS is One Workaround (But Not "Planets")
At least Gemini Protocol rejects centralisation
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, November 16, 2024
Links 17/11/2024: Wars, Bailouts, and Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/11/2024: Changing Interests and HamsterCMS
Links for the day
Links 16/11/2024: Twitter (X) Exodus Continues, Social Control Media Sanctions Spread Further
Links for the day
If You Donate to the FSFE, You Are Funding a Microsoft Front Group Inside Europe
FSFE has a new "Sugar Daddy"
Wikileaks is Now Stuck Under the Clutches of Donald Trump (via Elon Musk)
The same Trump administration that was blackmailing Assange and also schemed to torture/assassinate him
IPKat's Annsley Merelle Ward Spreading the Same Old Lies and Shameless Propaganda to Promote Software Patents in Europe (i.e. the Usual... and She's Not Even a Coder)
People are quick to point out that the cited survey is very inherently biased
Windows in Azerbaijan: Down From Around 99% to Around 20%
In the past two years Microsoft could barely keep above 20%
Microsoft's Vanity Vapourware ('Lame Duck' Product for Trump and Biden Bailouts) Again "Discontinued"
Microsoft cannot keep a dying unit that makes almost no sales alive just for mere prospects of a bailout (which falls through because even the military turns it down)
Links 16/11/2024: FTC Investigates Abusive Monopolist Microsoft for "Clown Computing" Market Abuses, General Motors Mass Layoffs
Links for the day
When Articles About Linux Foundation Are LLM SPAM (Slop) From Publishers Paid by the Linux Foundation
This is a corruption of the Web
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 15, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, November 15, 2024
Claim That IBM Canada Had Mass Layoffs Just Hours Ago
Nothing in the media, as usual
Gemini Links 16/11/2024: Starting Afresh, Community-to-community Networks
Links for the day