Dell feels cold probe of US Dept of Justice amid Syria PC sales claims

Misplaced Anger Much? Not Dell's Fault here!

Geez, seems like some misplaced anger against Dell... I have know several companies that have been grassed up by DoJ over resold equipment. Seems that no matter how much you tell people not to do something illegal they will do so gladly when there is enough profit in it.

I can agree that they are not as good as they could be but frankly they are better than most computer companies we deal with.

Dell did not sell the equipment to Syria, they sold it to a company in a "safe" country who abused their relationship with Dell. Therefore this is NOT DELL'S FAULT!

US gov can go piss in the wind

for all the majority of people in the middle east are concerned.

So DELL sells to a Company in Dubai. Dubai makes its money by trading. That company will sell the goods onto another in say Jordan. That company will mysteriously lose the kit and put it on a truck that a week or so later ends up in Syria via Lebanon.

The US needs to understand the lesson the Brits learned back in the day of Lawerence. Those pesky Arabs are past masters of slipping stuff through blockades. Even Israel has to admit its problems with 'stuff' getting into Gaza.

Stuff mysteriously dissapears overnight even from very secure places.

I've seen it for my very eyes in Amman and other places in the region.

10% US Made Content

Somebody forgot to renew their trans-shipping permit. It was probably just an oversight, Dell has been pretty busy this year.

In all seriousness, nothing about US trade law is straightforward. One law says exports to Syria are restricted but another law says those restrictions don't apply to a, b, or d, just to c. There's a legitimate, legal workaround for every law that's enacted. All things explodey are marginally better controlled, but unless it's a tank, an aircraft or a nuclear weapon you don't even have to look very hard to find the correct form to fill out to get the shipment OK'd.

Everybody in the export business knows the rules and everybody works within them. It's simply crazy not to, as there aren't really any restrictions, just a few extra forms. There's also the liabilities. When we export finished machines, metal working equipment or certain raw materials I am responsible for seeing that those things end up in the correct persons hands.

If we build an advanced pipe cutting machine for the French but it ends up in Iran making parts for use in a gaseous diffusion enrichment facility I'm going to prison, for a long time. Me. I'm swearing under oath that the stated destination is the truth and I'm agreeing to be responsible for the products until ownership has been formally transferred. If something goes wrong I'm the first person who goes to jail, others may follow.

My point is, there's nothing to be gained by a US company in trans-shipping some computers. The government won't stop the transaction as long as you ask first and fill out the form. It's far cheaper and easier to do it all above board, everybody knows this. If somebody is breaking the rules there's a lot going on we won't ever hear about.

It's entirely possible these computers were meant for the rebels but the plot was undone by Assad & Co, now they're just trying to make things more difficult for everyone. It's also possible the distributor was once a trusted asset and pissed somebody off so they've thrown him to the wolves in his own government. Who knows really, but it isn't as straightforward as a distributor ignoring the rules. There's no point in not playing by the rules.

Political?

As an employee, I really don't see what more the company can do. Their internal attempts to adhere to the policy of not dealing with US embargoed countries is almost fanatical. Annual mandatory training courses, email campaigns, flyers and printouts, and that goes for every employee no matter what your role is. It also goes into painstaking depth about just this scenario. If you put an order though on the sales system, you get several pop ups to confirm you have discussed export compliance, ensured they're not reselling to an embargoed country etc. Its over the f*cking top in a way only a large US corporation can be. But at the end of the day, how difficult is it to buy the kit in the name of "Peace and Love LTD", say its to be used to save the children, then stick it in a shipping container and sling it over the border?

Makes me wonder, Is the real problem here that someone thinks Mikes "political campaign contributions" could do with having another couple of 0's stuck on the end of the cheque?

When ordering from Dell I did once tick "Yes" to the question "Will this PC will be used in the preparation of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction".

This was about 13 years ago, I'm still waiting for a knock at the door.

(A/C as I don't want to make it too easy for them).

Huh?

"Blood-bath nation allegedly got its hands on American kit..."

Hardly surprising: the USA is the biggest market for said kit.

But where does Syria come into it??