Government Secrets and the Need for Whistle-blowers
schneier.com
schneier.com
I understand I am asking for people to engage in illegal and dangerous behavior. Do it carefully and do it safely, but -- and I am talking directly to you, person working on one of these secret and probably illegal programs -- do it.
In the heat of our anger against anything government and secretive, it's easy to forget about common people who work there and I believe more than one feel that what they do may be morally unjust.
It's not a comfortable position to be in. And greatly so for anyone deciding to speak up.
They make a great deal of sacrifice and I, as a citizen, am immensely thankful to them.
No matter how right you are to break the law, you will still have to face the consequences.
If someone is going to martyr themselves for their beliefs, I sure as hell hope they have a damn good team of lawyers behind them.
"Whistle-blowing is the moral response to immoral activity by those in power. What's important here are government programs and methods, not data about individuals. I understand I am asking for people to engage in illegal and dangerous behavior. Do it carefully and do it safely, but -- and I am talking directly to you, person working on one of these secret and probably illegal programs -- do it."
"our government regularly classifies things not because they need to be secret, but because their release would be embarrassing." - Agreed.
"but the U.S. government seems to have successfully destroyed it {wikileaks} as a platform." - Agreed.
I don't agree, though, that you should put yourself at personal risk to expose something you don't morally support. I also don't agree that the government shouldn't pursue programs like this. If popular fiction is to be believed, crime is predictable, and the magic answer to finding malicious people is there in the Internet, if we have a superhacker who can bang randomly on a keyboard while making Trekkie-sounding soliloquies.
I say eh, let them have a go at it. Because it will ultimately fail to give the desired results, just as airport body scanners have failed to find badguys, just as DHS security checkpoints have failed. Nothing will replace regular brownshoe investigation, and no brave action on the part of individuals will fix our tendency to build corrupt governments who abuse power.
No, Bruce, I'm going to take care of my family by not being sent to jail, rather than be a martyr to the doomed cause of dismantling the government's ability to use the net to spy on us.
However, I really do think one has a moral obligation to put oneself at personal risk to expose something you don't morally support, provided there is a reasonable gravity.
That means: it depends on your (conscience) valuation of both risk & moral gravity. Schneier is stating his view: the defense of the Rule of Law in this case is grave enough to put yourself (and even your family) at risk.
There are many people who have done this (and in the States there are quite a few).
But as with moral decisions, I shall not judge you.
However, I also am with Bruce in this. The Rule of Law is more important than you & your family.
When you think of the USSR, you may get to shocking conclusions.
Why does the commenter believe there is ever a point at which a person becomes morally responsible for the acts of others?
As for arguments about why you would ever act, it really depends on the person. Most people are far more pragmatic about what it constitutes for their family to be safe and happy whereas others believe (along with their families) that "It is better to die free than to live in shackles."
I've noticed the latter especially among immigrants from regions with a history of totalitarian regimes. For example, the majority of Russians who immigrated here after the USSR collapsed remember all too well what it's like to live in an oppressive state. For them, they see history repeating itself and know first hand how arguments like "who cares if you've got nothing to hide" end in people disappearing in the night and neighbors ratting each other out for petty reasons. It is very alarmist but when you're born without the cultural trust for government in America, you see things very differently.
As for harmful to a minority, you're thinking of winner-take-all electoral processes. Democracy is usually meant to describe the overarching idea of self-rule with checks and balances. I can't think of a single democracy in the developed world that doesn't have a minority-friendly self correcting feature (whether or not the checks and balances are working properly is a different matter).
To me it comes down to, do you "believe" in democracy or do you actually BELIEVE in democracy? The former means that you don't actually give a shit about the type of government you are ruled by until it infringes on you and yours. The latter means that to you, living in a democracy and being free (from oppression, surveillance, an over-zealous majority, etc.; whatever freedom is for you) is as important an aspect of your identity as your job or your family.
Notice that I have insisted on the balance (there may be times when you do not have to do something or simply you cannot do anything reasonable: f.ex. 'give all the money I earn to fight poverty' or 'give all my time to the needy', these may be or may not be done, it depends).
In the end, the people who make these kind of decisions are mostly called heroes.
I cannot explain it better: morality is all about this: what must/must not and what can/cannot be done. Otherwise, there is no 'morality', just 'feelings'.
I'd have to see the causal link between some abstract thing happening to me and another (similar but different) abstract thing happening to you, but until someone shows this causal link, it's a fallacy.
Are you going to call the police or pretend nothing happened so you can reduce the risk you would lose your job?
What are your morals?
This is the point where I assert the existence of morality as an axiom. I have no more argument than "it fits better with my understanding of the world. Actually, its opposite does not fit at all."
However, I guess this is shared by many many others.
And because of both, like with Peano's, I am willing to accept it and (because of the nature of what I am accepting), hold it even to my death (or so I hope).
* E.g. dominant frameworks are: morals are that which is necessary as a matter of integrity and self-respect, morals are that which you would prefer all people strictly adhere to, morals are that which provide the greatest good to the greatest number, morals are that which promote the state (or increase compassion, or knowledge).
By that definition everyone is acting immorally at all times when they're not attempting to remedy the most immoral thing they are aware of occurring at any given time. Such a definition fails the "usefulness" test.
People are not acting immorally at all times when they're not attempting to remedy the most immoral thing, as long as their moral framework indicates not acting (or continuing an ongoing action) is more moral. Should I donate all my money to charity? No, so long as, for example, I am concerting my efforts to use that money toward a greater moral goal.
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Sociopath-Next-Door-Martha-Stout/dp/07...
Ironically I can almost guarantee that there are people who will openly state agreement with something that they wouldn't actually ever do (say, something that would send them to jail) in order to not loose karma points.
Consequently the popular opinion on HN is not even just based upon an already small group of people who already are homogenized but an even smaller group that fears being downvoted for going against that crowd thought. So much for freedom of speech.
Also it helps the dialogue because?
Just to pick up on that bit...
Im not sure its about morality. As I understand it, its about the law. Or should be. I think employees have a duty to expose big organisations when they break the laws which are set down to govern them. Especially when its an organisation that works in secrecy.
The problem with the likes of the NSA is that "we" trust them with to operate secretly on the fundamental understand that the follow the rules our political democratically elected set down for them. The masses cant possibly know if these laws are being followed, so we need insiders to be willing to point it out if they break the law. Its the only chance we have to ever know of our deal is being broken.
Personally, I think that if you join a clandestine organisation, by its very nature, you are leaving morality out side the door. Spying is immoral, end of. But, very necessary. Which is why we allow it, but must have laws that they must be trusted to follow.
I honestly believe it is a treason like crime for such an organisation to break it's deal with the public who allow them to operate in these ways.
The government requested three months of Verizon's phone records right after the Boston bombing, not right after say, a derogatory article was published on Michelle Obama.
The government's actions must be viewed in light of the law enforcement agencies continuous drive to use technology to solve crimes and catch perpetrators. Most people celebrate this when they watch the CSI TV shows. Consider how DNA technology has made it more efficient to convict murderers, and how DNA has exonerated people on death row. Now consider how many people are eliminated as potential murder suspects because an early DNA screen clears then and consider how many people are eliminated as potential suspects in other crimes because their phone records put them in another place -- now I know that's a two edge sword, but technology is more illuminating and less bias than eye-witness testimony.
These kinds of dragnets suck, for more reasons than I care to admit. The fallacy of your argument is the idea that catching a few bad apples justifies the good ones that get caught in the same net. The people on CSI have due process, few of the NSAs targets will ever see their day in court.
Technology is neutral. Its application is decidedly not.
Registration at birth is a choice we made because of the social values of planning. It's unlikely that those same people, as adults, would consent to yearly tissue exchange or other undignified spying apparati.
In addition to registering for an SSN, we provide images of ourselves as we age for driver's licenses, and some interactions with law enforcement end up with one's DNA being collected. Allegories to your dystopian state you feel people would balk at are already standard practice.
Bad stuff can be (and has been) done with this information (and that sucks), and as was stated above, so has exculpatory stuff (which is great).
That's not how it worked in the Matrix... Are you thinking Left Behind style? That was in the forehead or right hand.