Faculty AI

[BillyStubbsTears]

https://t.co/pSrWBKpiTU?amp=1

Just beyond belief.

The minister in charge of the Government Digital Service (GDS) owns shares worth £90k in Faculty AI, which has won several contracts from...GDS.

Does anyone give a shit anymore about what is happening to our democracy? Hollowed out by spivs and chancers.

[Donnywolf]

NO - as "they" proved recently and continue to prove

Big up for the Gogglebox people showing disdain for Johnsons recent speech

[SydneyRover]

Not ignoring it, I read it and posted it yesterday, plenty of people say their all the same or sit on the fence.

[foxbat]

it's  corruption,  but apparently fine with many as long as  ' great laugh' cuddly Boris is in charge

[Ldr]

Can you prove that? Or is it your usual head up arse hatred of anything non marxist?

[BillyStubbsTears]

Whether or not it is actually corrupt, it is a conflict of interest 100ft wide. This is simply not supposed to be acceptable in a democratic government, and would have been a career-ender not very long ago. But as I say, standards have changed without us really seeming to give a shite any more.

[Ldr]

Agreed, but that's not what was said.........

[Nudga]

I did say follow the money on another thread.
It will run much deeper too. That is why I say question everything.

[BillyStubbsTears]

And there's the problem.

If you casually accept lies and conflicts of interest, how do you get people to believe you when you DO tell the truth.

I was struck with that listening to Matt Hancock on the radio today. Assuring people that the new NHS tracking app will not compromise their personal data.

Now, I personally think that some form of tracking app is essential for getting us out of this hole. But what do you say to people who will refuse because they don't trust the Govt to be truthful and straight? Espscially him, who has lied numerous times in this crisis on matters where the objective truth was checkable, and has been untrustworthy on issues like whether we hit his self-set 100,000 tests per day target (which we STILL haven't as of today but he insists we have).

I've said from the off that THE most important thing you need in a crisis like this is faith that your leaders can be trusted. So when they say "Please do X and don't do Y," people will not instinctively question their motives. Does anyone really have that trust in this lot?

[Ldr]

See this is where I have a problem with you BST. I didn't say I accepted it, indeed I agreed with you but you go on to make out the opposite. Ironic since you responded to my post calling out Foxbat for lying

[Donnywolf]

I would not trust a word that comes out of Hang-cogs mouth

He may not always lie but for me is the epitome of most of the personnel within this Cabinet - way way WAY out of his depth

However you are right as well becasue as soon as I heard him say "your data is safe with those collecting it (paraphrase)" I actually said "lying git" and there is the knub of the problem for me and probably a small majority of my fellow electors

[BillyStubbsTears]

See this is where I have a problem with you BST. I didn't say I accepted it, indeed I agreed with you but you go on to make out the opposite. Ironic since you responded to my post calling out Foxbat for lying

Ldr.

I didn't see your post 6 and my post 8 wasn't replying to that. I was responding to Nudga's post 7. The "you" was a general one, not aimed at "you". Apologies for the mix-up.

[BillyStubbsTears]

By the way, I agree that foxbat was wrong to say it IS corruption.

But that's kind of irrelevant.

Govt doesn't only have to BE whiter than white, it has to LOOK so too.

And there is the problem. People don't instinctively trust this administration, because so many of them have a track record of being untrustworthy.

[Ldr]

Fair enough, appreciated BST and apols too

[selby]

  Billy, I am 73 years old, and I don't think I have ever trusted any administration no matter who has been in power and which party. None is any more trustworthy than the other, Due to our voting history you could say that the Tories have been the worst at national level, and labour have been just the same at local level.

[ravenrover]

Wheressssssss BORIS?

[BillyStubbsTears]

  Billy, I am 73 years old, and I don't think I have ever trusted any administration no matter who has been in power and which party. None is any more trustworthy than the other, Due to our voting history you could say that the Tories have been the worst at national level, and labour have been just the same at local level.

Selby.

Historically, our Governments (of both colours) have been refreshingly free of corruption and other misdeed, when compared to most other countries.

We regularly had Ministers resign when they had screwed up on policy, when there was even a whiff of corruption about them, or when they were believed to have misled Parliament.

It is something we should really have treasured.

Unfortunately, attitudes like yours have thrown that away. We now have a generation of politicians who know they can get away with pretty much anything, because the attitude out there is "They are all as bad as each other, so why should I single anyone out for criticism?"

While ever we allow that attitude to prevail, there is no penalty on the cheat and liar in politics, and no incentive for anyone to play the game fairly.

[albie]

Beware the Trojan horse!

I agree with BST that an app could be very useful, but it must be time limited and open source.

People need to be aware of who Cummings has set up to manage the data gathered. There is a summary with links in this twitter feed;
https://twitter.com/Tom___Scott/status/1256978338033422338

Cambridge Analytica anyone?
Peter Thiel?
Palantir?

Not for me......just wait for the data leakage to emerge further down the line.
The value of this info to many interests is very high.

[Ldr]

Yeah open source, let anyone edit the code, ffs

[albie]

Ldr,

Open source license as in the propsed WHO version;
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/23/world_health_organization_coronavirus_app/

Other examples of an open source approach includes the Open COVID-19 Data Working Group, which has created an open access database that forms the data for a COVID-19 HealthMap;
https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/coronavirus-response/

That key point is who owns and controls the data.
It is not the NHS directly, even if that were secure.

It is the property of a private company, and not open to outside inspection for verification in any aspect.

[selby]

  Billy it is called reality, and not seeing things through rose coloured glasses and thinking nothing is going on.