[tadzik_]

No, not everyone I like passes my purity test, you're right. I try not to judge them too much for it, they have their reasons (largely economical), and it's their call. I wouldn't do it, but I don't condemn them for it either – and I never said that I would. I merely stated my own stance on this, which is, as you say, cheap to have since I'm in a stable situation and the IT job market is abundant of well-paying jobs.

I see the point that you're getting at, and there's surely the line to be drawn here, and I think it's a question of scale – and the line is placed differently for each individual. I don't have absolutist views on this, and I probably wouldn't feel bad either, as a public defender in the example you bring up. I'd say public defenders are in the clear even if their state-employer also does bad things – since at least some of the things that they do are good and need to be done, like keeping people safe. I wouldn't say the same about Norton since they're one of many and if they went down tomorrow nothing much would really happen.

I don't think it's comparable to the IT industry though. Companies hugely care about their image, and poking holes in that image is an effective – or at least available – way to put pressure on them. Consider how much effort they're making to recruit people, and how heavily they rely on friends recommending their friends. "Your employees will leave and they'll discourage their friends from working with you" will work much better on a tech company than it would on a state that doesn't really compete with anyone else when it comes to public defense.

One's own conscience work similarly in this case. There's a long way to go from "I directly boost profits of a ruthless, replacable corporation" to the "I criticize the society and yet I participate in it" meme.