Re:NSA Owns Everything (2015)
by TeMPOraL on Thursday August 13, 2020 @01:45PM
(#24146004)
> If the tools are there, they will be used for evil.
I use a stronger (more specific) form of that heuristic that seems to hold up well in practice:
If something evil is within technological possibility, and there is economic gain to be had from doing it, someone will end up doing it.
(Note, by "within technological possibility" I don't mean "there are COTS tools available for doing that", but closer to "physics doesn't prohibit it, and we have a good grasp on how it could be done in theory".)
I actually first figured out this phrasing of my intuition during Snowden revelations, to explain to myself why my initial reaction was a complete lack of surprise.
I use a stronger (more specific) form of that heuristic that seems to hold up well in practice:
If something evil is within technological possibility, and there is economic gain to be had from doing it, someone will end up doing it.
(Note, by "within technological possibility" I don't mean "there are COTS tools available for doing that", but closer to "physics doesn't prohibit it, and we have a good grasp on how it could be done in theory".)
I actually first figured out this phrasing of my intuition during Snowden revelations, to explain to myself why my initial reaction was a complete lack of surprise.