
Pardon Plea by Adolf Eichmann, Nazi War Criminal, Is Made Public - kolbe
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/world/middleeast/israel-adolf-eichmann-holocaust.html
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kolbe
I submitted this because, ever since reading Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem,
I've always thought about not only the tasks that I do, but who I do them for.
Eichmann was a very talented engineer, but he used his talents to support one
of the most brutal regimes in modern history.

I think it's particularly relevant for programmers today. Many of us are
tempted by pay or prestige or excitement to do morally dubious tasks. And even
though it feels safe to do things like collect data for the NSA or help build
weapons for the US military, that history is filled with examples of people
who "just did their job," but later learned a very harsh lesson that they
should have considered more carefully who they were doing it for.

