Re:Snowden: US hacks Chinese mobile phone companies, steals ...
by javajosh on Sunday June 23, 2013 @01:19AM
(#5926337)
Don't you see? That argument itself seeks to remove one of the costs of such behavior, the cost of lost reputation.
There used to be quite a lot of social value placed on people showing restraint. Having power, but not using it. Implicit in your argument is the assertion that you don't respect self-restraint. And when people stop respecting restraint, then people in power have no more reason to show restraint.
Reflexivity at it's best.
So, make that decision explicit. Would you prefer to live in a world where people with power restrained themselves? Or would you prefer to live in a world where people with power act with no more restraint than what is legal and in their interest? If the former then you need to stop using self-interest as justification for behavior.
That's a perfectly good justification, though: if you're feeling disgusted by people acting in their own interest, then you've designed the system of incentives (the thing that gives them interests to act in) wrong. To think otherwise is to be disgusted by the very concept of economics.