[ikeboy]

The difference is that people from other countries are generally not subject to US jurisdiction. Certainly the deterrence effect from stories like this is far larger for US based employees and contractors than foreign ones.

It's not xenophobic to prefer US employees for sensitive positions of trust, where the rule of US law is relevant.

[kinkrtyavimoodh]

So it'd be okay to say it for contractors in Africa, who are black and who are also not under US jurisdiction?

[eloff]

Yes, generally putting critical access in the hands of foreign contractors, especially in third world or developing countries is a terrible idea. It has nothing to do with race. If you outsource to white Russian contractors in Russia you could be just as fucked.

[achow]

Except the fact that Amazon's office in Hyderabad India is the their largest in the world [1]. We are not talking about contractors - they are employees like any in their Seattle one, many actually do relocate back from US to India office.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/business/amazon-hyderabad...

[fmajid]

I think the implication is that someone poorly paid and lightly supervised is more susceptible to bribery. Whether they are a contractor or full employee, or the color of their skin, is irrelevant. I personally doubt pay makes a difference, either you have integrity or you do not.

All in all, this is very embarrassing for Amazon.

[donor20]

Correct, and if a US political party outsources their IT management to white folks overseas in eastern Europe (outside of EU) / Russia or former Russian states where US law does not apply they'd be equally idiotic.

[ikeboy]

If a company was outsourcing critical business logic to, say, Nigeria, I would absolutely criticize them for that. The color would have nothing to do with it.

[smabie]

Yeah I think that would be fine, ignoring the fact that Africa isn't a country and India is. American isn't a race, and neither is Indian.