Hacker News Reader

Given that spying drastically shortened the war against Japan and appreciably shortened the war against Nazi Germany (both of which are definitely not on the Christmas list of UN human rights proponents), I'd be careful about how emotionally attached one gets to the issue of spying. Like many other things, it is a tool... it can be used for good or for bad, but in the end it's a tool nonetheless.

View on HN

"Because <scaremongering amorphous threat>, you should really accept the removal of <fundamental right>"

Hah. Yeah, sure.

Well, how about this one? I would argue that controlling what substances are injected into your own body is pretty fundamental human right.

So why do we allow societies to impose a vaccination regimen on people, by even minor coercion?

Oh, I thought you were going heroin, instead you went antivax.

Figured it was worth a shot. I would actually imagine there's a lot of people who actually are antivax for the reason I mention, but you never know 'til you try, right? ;)

Spying on an enemy government is way different from spying on civilians.

Sure. Just like making a relevant point is way different to supporting the broken end of a dead tangent (NSA/GCHQ/etc. don't just spy on governments, they spy on anyone they feel like, and everyone by default, and this is very much confirmed now)... without presenting any evidence.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com