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They're probably not thinking of it as immoral. Most likely they actually do believe they're improving national security by doing this. Or they just like the p
by nicholassmith 13y ago
They're probably not thinking of it as immoral. Most likely they actually do believe they're improving national security by doing this.
Or they just like the paycheck, that's a big possibility. I imagine the NSA is probably happy to pay a lot with a large amount of bonuses to keep people in roles.
- clicks 13y agoThis sentiment was also echoed by Snowden in the original video interview. He supposedly had greater insight as to how civil rights at large were being violated, only because as a sysdmin he (and not others) had a broader picture of what was going on, and at what scale it was going on. So, it's easy to imagine NSA recruiters coaxing potential hires with convincing lines like "we have internal courts, procedures, and checks and balances systems to prevent abuse of citizens' privacy".
- g8oz 13y agoIn a profile on Palantir (which sells tools that help with this sort of thing), one employee was quoted as saying "this really is about saving the Shire". Had to laugh.
- nicholassmith 13y agoI remember that (I think it was in Wired), and it struck me as a basic naivety on their part as when they were building it they were thinking about catching bad guys without realising the line between who's a good guy and who's a bad guy is determined way above your head. In the spirit of the 'Shire' quote they should have also realised 'with great power comes great responsibility'. No one has demonstrated that they are responsible enough to have that level of power over millions of people.