Carter's words sound like the man who see's his judgement, but still uselessly pleads innocent for the decisions he believes should be kept in the dark.

I remember when my small private university received its first DOJ request in 2005 to install wire-tapping hardware on our servers. We in the IT department circled up and met, deciding to ignore this letter as a disgrace to the American public, the constitution, and the human values we believed in. Even receiving shamed us, and stirred anger and fear for years after.

When we ignored it, no request came again and no consequence -- because the people who asked us to do wrong would never ask us to do it again by the light of day.

Remember: stand true to what is right for you and those around you, whether in private or in public, and you'll never regret that choice from this day to your last.