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> Fundamentally, spying is very good for the world. 'Spying' is not a well-defined term. I think you mean 'information gathering' but also under the rubric of
by jhayward 7y ago
> Fundamentally, spying is very good for the world.
'Spying' is not a well-defined term. I think you mean 'information gathering' but also under the rubric of spying fall subversion, sabotage, political interference, propaganda and disinformation, etc.
Even in the realm of information gathering the techniques used are often unacceptable - such as deliberately putting someone in a compromising position and then extorting them to provide access to information they posses.
I don't think the assertion that those things are good for the world would be widely accepted.
- germinalphrase 7y agoPublicly, the CIA claims that they don’t use negative inducements.
- jhayward 7y agoAs part of Edward Snowden's explanation of his radicalization he relates an anecdote of his work for the CIA in Switzerland. From the wiki page: Snowden described his CIA experience in Geneva as formative, stating that the CIA deliberately got a Swiss banker drunk and encouraged him to drive home. Snowden said that when the latter was arrested, a CIA operative offered to help in exchange for the banker becoming an informant. Ueli Maurer, President of the Swiss Confederation for the year 2013, in June of that year publicly disputed Snowden's claims. "This would mean that the CIA successfully bribed the Geneva police and judiciary. With all due respect, I just can't imagine it Everyone should feel free to apply their own judgement about the value of this anecdote. Edit: I would regard kidnapping, rendition, and waterboarding as a "negative inducement", myself.