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Comment by Phemist | Hacker News Reader

>> On a related note, I also find it incredible how people can make a living out of these kind of businesses and sleep well at night...

What we do is legal, therefore it is not unethical; if it were unethical, it would be illegal.

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I think people missed the hidden /s in this post.

If /s means sarcasm and you are correct, then GP is intending the opposite of what they say. That unsignalled irony will be missed by 95% of readers, and is probably ill-advised. I certainly didn't pick up on it, and I'm usually decent at that.

Was a bit difficult to pick up on it.

I found it obvious by context.

I'm guessing this is a good example of Poe's law.

I think your logic is failing there, the fact that something is legal doesn't make it ethical straightaway.

You can do unethical things using legal loopholes without it being necessarily illegal.

That's... exactly his point ...

Legality != Morality. Some of the NSA surveillance is legal; that does not make it ethical.

I think that's his point. A better example would be slavery. Since it was legal at some point, was it then ethical?

Depends on your sense of morals, I am sure there are many NSA employees who sleep well at night.

Many people follow what I call Godfather's I ethics. Vito Corleone cares about his family and friends and will do rather mean things to those who threaten the well being of those around him.

Tribalism has stayed with us over the millennia and is unlikely to go away any time soon.

The word "legal" is sort of meaningless for behavior that is never observed by legal authorities.

Also, see irony.

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