Fake tech gear has infiltrated the U.S. government
http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/08/technology/security/counterfeit-tech/index.html?source=cnn_bin
What is really amazing to me is the totally unspoken story about the non-governmental costs associated with this exact same issue. Because the government has historically been required to go with the lowest bidder (and the lowest bidder has the highest incentive to go with the counterfeits) there has been a huge path of profitability put in place. That lowest cost mentality has bled over into the private sector pretty thoroughly now, so all sorts of big companies will engage in marginal activity just to save a nickel here or there. As I wrote earlier, company’s management is incentivized to do these long-term idiotic things because of their laser focus on short-term personal rewards. Because of this mentality the counterfeit suppliers are now a solid part of our economy and every year we have less and less (as a country) ability to service our own needs. Yes, there is a huge concern about cyber warfare, etc., but more important in my mind is the shear idiocy of buying defective shit from third-world countries just to get a bonus at the end of the year. The fraction of a percent that is saved isn’t even noticeable on the corporate accounts, but represents in a 50% (or more) income bonus to the manager who made the decision to sell out his company’s future.
This is just one of the thousands of reasons I see the looming apocalypse just around the corner…
