> As long as there's pressure to build systems, they will find people to build them.
Right. But you could find people easily or with great difficulty. Imagine a whole generation of "ethical" hackers who refuse to become pawns in the industrial military complex and/or surveillance sectors. Who will build the police state then?
My point is that "the system" depends heavily on the humans and the best way to fight the system is not to work for the system. Just don't join //them// and (A) you will sleep better at night and (B) you will be helping the world.
The argument "someone was going to do it if I don't" doesn't hold any water. Just stick to what you believe is right and don't worry about the others.
"Just don't join //them// and (A) you will sleep better at night and (B) you will be helping the world. ... Just stick to what you believe is right and don't worry about the others."
There is another benefit to standing up for what's right (especially if you do so loudly and proudly), and that is providing an inspiration to others and leading by example.
> The argument "someone was going to do it if I don't" doesn't hold any water.
Can you elaborate or suggest some further reading on this? If someone possesses rare talent or technology, I can understand it. But that's hardly the case in what we're talking about.
I see approximately zero difference in the world if I write surveillance software or if someone else does. It will get done. Government and telecom companies aren't going to shrug and drop the issue. So why should I allow someone else to benefit from my refusing a contract?
I am honestly asking for the logical steps in arriving at your outcome.
You don't see a difference because you don't seem to have a strong feeling about the ethics of these kinds of jobs. I don't say this to attack you or to judge you.
To understand what others are saying here, you need to substitute some other ethical question that you do have strong feelings about.
Regarding your game-theory comments -- you're implicitly assuming that "winning" involves maximizing your income. For me, how I feel about myself is part of assessing any potential win or loss.
Fundamentally, you can't really answer ethical or moral questions using market or game-theoretic thinking, without considering how you feel about what you're doing as part of the win/loss metric. If you don't care about an issue, you don't care about it.
So, "how will my caring about this make a difference" isn't really the right question. Instead, ask "why should I care about this?"
Yes I might lack empathy for other people's privacy, especially as it seems that most people just don't care. Those that care can use technology to benefit themselves. You're right though, I have a hard time answering why I should care, personally. If I eliminate emotion from the question, I cannot come up with any rational reasons.
But more than that, blaming a single low-level actor in a system seems kinda pointless. It's like hating an individual DEA agent instead of the idiotic system that creates the DEA. Shaming DEA agents will accomplish next to nothing; the effort would be better spent where it might make an impact (like on elected officials).
The number of hackers you need to implement surveillance (or land mines) is pretty low, and you can get people from the worldwide population. Not to mention there are going to be a fair number of patriots that believe what they're doing is good, anyways.
The only question is which individual will profit and how much from actually building it. In this hypothetical situation, I can't see any reason to let someone else (who may have values I don't like) get paid to build the technology.
Right. But you could find people easily or with great difficulty. Imagine a whole generation of "ethical" hackers who refuse to become pawns in the industrial military complex and/or surveillance sectors. Who will build the police state then?
My point is that "the system" depends heavily on the humans and the best way to fight the system is not to work for the system. Just don't join //them// and (A) you will sleep better at night and (B) you will be helping the world.
The argument "someone was going to do it if I don't" doesn't hold any water. Just stick to what you believe is right and don't worry about the others.