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Ask HN: Are we complicit in the NSA dragnet?
12 points by econner on Aug 9, 2013 | hide | past | favorite | 2 comments
In Day After Trinity there's a scene where one researcher describes the scientists' reaction to the Hiroshima bomb. "Our first thought," he says, "was thank god it wasn't a dud." Only later did they consider the moral implications brought on by technology that kills 80,000 people in one fell swoop (which, to this day, consumes much of the energy of global diplomacy).

My question is: to what degree are programmers like us complicit in the NSA dragnet? What can we do to be more wary of making technology work second and understanding implications first?



[thanks for asking this. i had always wondered how those physicists felt / could have done what they did. and now i read your question and understand them much better.]


Yes.




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