zlacker

> But to expect that a _federal agency_ will be denied service from a private entity, especially for essentially political reasons, is lunacy.

Microsoft itself is denying service to police departments right now regarding face detection tech.

"Microsoft won’t sell facial recognition to police until Congress passes new privacy law" https://www.theverge.com/21288053/microsoft-facial-recogniti...

>>nextac+(OP)
The facial recognition case is a terrific counterexample. That's totally the right thing to do, and much less dangerous.

Note that MSFT isn't denying the use of Microsoft Office or Outlook to the FBI et al. That's essentially what GitHub's employees are asking for. They're denying the use of a tool which can be directly used to do harm, until they're sure it'll be used appropriately.

If a tech company were supplying software that was a key enabler for ICE's cruelty (such that ICE's cruelty would be significantly hampered without the tool), by all means they should stop the sale.