Steve, I'm not suggesting that technologists should duck responsibility.
But I really think there are better fora. In fact, that's one of the
reasons I've always supported the ISOC in its wider role.
As Ned pointed out, a lot of our technology -- especially, but not
only, security technology -- can't be divorced from its societal
asepcts. When I advocate strong cryptography, I'm certainly protecting
passwords. But am I also protecting privacy, or am I hindering
investigations into terrorist organizations? Is OPES a way to localize
content or is it a way to enable censorship? Will charging for email
-- or rather, the protocols for doing so -- help stop spam, or will it
cut off the third world from the net?
Amorality among scientists, engineers, and technologists has gotten the
world into a lot of trouble. I prefer to think about the consequences
of what I do.
