How Dell Thinks They've Made The World A Safer Place
from the yeah,-that's-useful dept
While this has been joked about on various mailing lists and websites, the folks over at Silicon.com are now really making fun of Dell for asking their "big, dumb question" to anyone trying to buy a computer in the US: asking users whether or not the computers will be used with weapons of mass destruction. As you might imagine, if you actually want to buy your computer, it's best to answer no. Of course, folks involved in such production probably know this too and aren't likely to feel compelled to be truthful (and, also, are unlikely to be ordering directly from Dell). However, as the article points out, the situation in the UK is slightly different. There, they point out that they will not sell to those working on weapons of mass destruction (or genocide!) "...without the prior consent of the US or competent EU government." It certainly makes you wonder how they define "competent." It also makes you wonder about the "competency" of whoever put these questions on the site. Why bother?
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How I would love to call up Dell,
Dell: Are you going to be using your new PC to make Weapons of Mass Destruction?
Me: Can you define 'Mass?' -- are we talking 10, 20, 100, thousands, millions?
(get horrified answer from offshored worked).
Me: Oh, well, then no. No I am not making weapons of *Mass* Destruction, at least not by *your* definition.
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Dell's WMD policy
"What is the purpose of your visit?" at the border, but as Silicon.com states, "Dell's intentions are laudable." It's kind of a damned if you do, damned if ya don't kind of thing.
Too bad they didn't offer any solutions to how
it could be handled ... maybe corporations could have their own Black Op teams to track
and retrieve machines found in enemy countries via GPS trackers in EVERY box sold ;-)
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weapon of mass destruction
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