both Russia and China have been in the news for hacking into databases to gain info about other nations coronavirus vaccine research. I’m sure other nations have done it too and not gotten caught.
Why is this a bad thing? won’t this speed up when we get a cure, if we all share info?
A vaccine for this disease shouldn’t be a for profit enterprise, so why is this considered a bad thing since sharing info should speed up progress and prevent duplication of research? it’s not like they’re stealing info about a new drug for baldness that was designed solely by a private company.
If China hacks American virus research and as a result they create a vaccine three months earlier than they would otherwise, then good.
That and the president has allocated funding to buy up the first batch as part of the stradigy of speeding up the process. So the US has an interest in getting there first. Part of Trumps grind against China is that they steal technology innovation and then sell the goods back to us.
One of the reasons we have a number of different efforts to find a vaccine is the financial incentive to do so. If you take that away, expect that future efforts to find future vaccines will be less successful.
There’s always a balance between private profit and public good, but it seems very unlikely to me that the best place to make policy is “it’s unethical to make money off of cures for widespread diseases”.
If you only give pharmaceutical companies financial incentives for things like baldness cures, expect to see a lot more resources invested in baldness cures and a lot fewer in public health improvements.
This might be a good thing if Robin Hood was involved, but neither Russia, China or private entrepreneurs are likely to be doing this for a greater good. I heard a report a few days ago that early doses of a Russian vaccine in development were being given to their rich and business elites.
It kind of undercuts the message of a boon for all humans if the stolen vaccine preferentially goes to another select group. Also if your motive is mercenary, then there is also incentive to sabotage or damage the research you’ve stolen from to hinder the competition.
The headlines for the indictments highlight the vaccine research. Don’t trust headlines. Let’s look at what is actually being claimed.
The indictments do not have very much to do with the COVID-19 research. The attacks are mostly unrelated to the disease. Even the targeted biotech firms researching the disease would have had information that was not merely about the disease. The pattern in the allegations certainly makes it look like they would not have limited themselves to taking covid information.