24 May 2015

Would modern IBM mainframes be better for the environment than rack servers in data centers?

Read Ellie Kesselman's answer to Would the use of modern mainframes like the IBM z13 be better for the environment than PC-style rack mounted servers in data centers? on Quora

Quora monetization strategy and the Surveillance State?

Read Ellie Kesselman's answer to How deeply connected is Quora to our government's intelligence agencies? on Quora

I'm going to answer this question seriously, even though it makes me laugh a little.  

The context topic is "Quora Business Model and Monetization".  There would be no reason for Quora to have any connection with U.S. government intelligence agencies in order to sustain itself as a viable business, i.e. a going concern.  


In the somewhat implausible scenario that the U.S. government wanted to use Quora content or user data for national security purposes, or even law enforcement purposes as needed (e.g. for collecting evidence in the course of a criminal investigation), there would be no need to pay Quora. Quora is a U.S.-domiciled company, and it uses Amazon Web Services to store its data. Both Quora and AWS must comply with U.S. government requests for data.  If necessary, the U.S. government could compel Quora to cooperate by a wide variety of entirely legal means.[1]  It isn't a quid pro quo relationship.  That is to say, the following scenario would NOT be a monetization or business model for Quora:

NSA/CIA/FBI  Give us your user data and let us interact with your users as we see fit.
Quora  Okay! How much will you pay us?
NSA/CIA/FBI  We'll pay you $12 million dollars per year.
Quora  Sounds good.  Deposit a million dollars on the third Thursday of every month in Marc Bodnick's checking account.
NSA/CIA/FBI  Okay!
Quora  :)
NSA/CIA/FBI   :)

There are some other possibilities worth considering. The question doesn't actually specify "US government",only "our government",although the topic tags do explicitly mention NSA, DHS, FBI and CIA.