Hacker News Reader

> I mean some of these people are really smart and understand how this spying can be abused. There must be something they know that makes them build or support these programs.

Governments and security agencies want the Social Graph -- in detail, and, if possible, in real-time. This has become one of their top strategic priorities.

There is no legitimate "use" of these programs that would stand in contrast to what you call their "abuse".

View on HN

I respectfully disagree. Most of the people doing this do it not to be evil, but because they genuinely believe that their mandate to "protect the country" from ${bad_things} (terrorists, porn, etc) is _more_important_ and valuable than the rights or freedoms which they tread on. That is the core of the debate: finding out when/whether it is OK to do that.

This. We won't get anywhere if we imagine that these programs are instigated by moustache-twirling villains bent on harvesting our personal data. In all likelihood, everyone involved believes that they are acting for the best. The real threat is a slow shift in the expectations of privacy.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com