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Private companies have incentive to pursue whatever the fuck they want to pursue. Public companies have a nominal responsibility to shareholders, but as long as they can justify it they can do whatever so long as it makes money eventually. Governments have a nominal responsibility to their citizens, but can do other stuff if they are allowed to do so.

WMD is such a stupid thing to bandy about, anyways--how many more are killed with cigarettes and cars than have died from these superweapons that rot in silos and labs?

PRISM, as somebody else has pointed out, is a stupid example because massive data mining is literally the business model for vast swathes of industry.

Just stop.




I'll give you a clue: compare the non-linearity of harm caused by cigarettes to the non-linearity of harm caused/posed by WMD programs.


Aaaand you've changed the topic from matters of incentive, thus ceding the point. Thanks for playing!


Your point about incentives was so circular it wasn't worth addressing.


I like that you think governments do stuff "if they are allowed to do so."

that's the sort of charming naïveté I look for in a date.




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