Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

It is possible to believe both things at the same time: that dictatorships will inevitably acquire exploits, backdoors, and monitoring tools, and that it's unconscionable for companies to sell these things to dictatorships.

The story is perhaps clearer on exploit markets. The alternative to markets is publication, which burns the vulnerability by hastening its patch deployment. Dictatorships will inevitably acquire more exploits, but they are in a race against everyone in else discovering vulnerabilities.




I think there's a defensible case that in the case of Saudi Arabia, there are other parties operating in the country who are much worse for the rights of both Saudi citizens and humans elsewhere, and selling the digital equivalent of arms to the Saudi Government isn't inherently evil.

I'd sure rather deal with the current Saudi Government than with Al Qaeda. Yes, there are fairly bad elements within the government, and it is at best one of the more restrictive regimes in the world, but there are some alternatives that are worse.


> dictatorships will inevitably acquire exploits

That's not what I mean. Even if you somehow stop them from acquiring exploits, they will remain in power because it's not derived from subtle technological advantages.


Perhaps the way to phrase it is that the soviet surveillance apparatus was an expression of power, just as the modern technological surveillance apparatus is an expression of modern power.

I think that this stuff matters, to the extent that I'd like to be in solidarity with those everywhere who are in a tension against authority. Not selling exploits is one small way that I can do that, and writing a blog post about it is one small contribution (I can hope) to creating a culture of doing that.


If the technological advantages do not help them stay in power, why do you think they would pursue them? And what 'advantage' would they be?


Why do people eat themselves into morbid obesity? Why did soviets reverse rivers? Why are American prosecutors trying to jail kids for sexting?

Is eating not obviously beneficial? Is there something wrong with large-scale engineering? Shouldn't we fight child pornography?

Drives, rules, and organisations outlive and outgrow their usefulness all the time. Why would surveillance be an exception?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: