The problem is that the programmers in the dotcom boom did have an altruistic motive that is why they can justify the privacy violations. They simply see themselves as the good guys and thus it is okay when they do the wrong things as long as it is for the greater good.
I'm sure there were some people like that. But the impression was really that it was an orgy of anyone who could program at all acting the role of some rock star genius visionary, while most people were hopping companies to whatever seemed to have the best IPO prospects at any moment.
RMS wasn't the only one with ethics that was a barrier to getting rich, however. One odd thing was that, at the start of the dotcom boom, I had the impression (perhaps mistaken) that the programmers with the most experience with Internet and such were also disproportionately more inclined to see themselves as bringing some altruistic vision to everyone, and nurturing it. Things like privacy violation would not fly, I don't think. The privacy violations were snuck in, initially, and the original visionaries either weren't in a position to stop it, somehow didn't realize it was happening, or simply took the money.