I would like to tell a story about a small part I played in this game once. I was working for a network equipment manufacturer, let's call them Acme Routers, a

I would like to tell a story about a small part I played in this game once. I was working for a network equipment manufacturer, let's call them Acme Routers, and I was visiting a medium sized residential ISP in a EU country. The reason I was visiting this ISP was because they wanted us to develop a feature for them to "trap-and-trace" their residential internet subscribers. In the industry we call this "lawful interception" and it's how the government snoops on people. Acme Routers didn't want to develop this feature and we were making a display of showing how difficult it would be for us and how much it would cost us. We wanted guarantees that they would purchase more from us if we developed this feature. It was only during the actual meeting that I realized the ISP didn't want this feature either. No one wanted to deal with this feature. The ISP didn't want the hassle and added expense and Acme wanted to spend time on features that would make us more competitive. But the ISP needed this feature in order to be compliant with their laws. They would face penalties if they could not give law enforcement access to their subscribers. If Acme decided not to make this feature the ISP would just pick another vendor. So we developed the feature for them. The moral of the story is that technical people don't always get to decide the direction of technology. It's policy makers and their penalties that sometimes force technical folks into developing things they would rather not. There is no getting around the law as an operator if you wish to remain an operator for long. " The world is run by men who use laws for tools." -- Talib Kweli So we have to change the law, because that's the only way we can remove the tools of evil men. As technologists we want to think there is a technical solution to this dilemma, but there isn't. The only way to prevent technology from being used as a tool of oppression is to change the law so it cannot be used in such a way. And if we cannot change the law then we must change those wielding it, through peaceful means if possible and violent means if necessary. Education plays a primary role here. As a technologist other people look to you for interpretations of our modern world and technology. Lead them by example and explain your actions along the way. Educate those around you about issues relating to technology and ethics. We take for granted just how many people there are who don't know anything about these issues. They might care about it but they are truly ignorant of the issues. Fix that. Let's make the term technologist synonymous with a person who understands ethics and technology.