[tombert]

I understand where you're going with this, and while I don't really "disagree", I think it's a bit of a stretch to go from Nuremberg justifications of murder to "installing some stuff that makes your computer slow because someone asked you to". Should "just following orders" fully absolve you of guilt, even on a small scale? No, definitely not, but I feel like the language you used is loaded.

Most engineers on HN aren't solely developing for non-profits and charities, we're writing software for for-profit entities, and most of the really big for-profit entities are pretty evil (e.g. Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, etc). It's not unreasonable to condemn people for working for these companies, but I think it's important to put into perspective the scale and intent of most of the people working there.

[w1nk]

It doesn't just make your computer slow, which is bad enough, it's actively stealing your electricity and converting it into their money. How can that possibly be justified?

[tombert]

It’s not justified, I don’t claim it is. It should be condemned, I just feel like the term “just following orders” has a bit of a loaded Nuremberg connotation to it.

I guess I’m accusing the parent comment of hyperbole more than being “wrong”.