[bertil]

I was directly involved in this.

I am happy to answer any questions you have about questioning or ethics at the time. Assuming that people's reaction to this was wrong, while not knowing what that reaction was, or having less than 5% of the context, isn’t going to help much.

Short answer: No, there were strong arguments for it. I reached out for institutional support to answer some questions, groups that I expected to be a lot more supportive than the ACM, but I found the reaction seriously lacking. Your intuition that groups like the ACM should offer assistance is sensible but completely overlooks many problems: geopolitics, different types of security, and individual capacities, among others. Each institution has its priorities; those are not always compatible, and it’s unclear who should have precedence. The ACM won’t help you if the argument is the kind of compromise with the devil that spy agencies often make or if problematic tools are used in efforts to dismantle large criminal groups.

[FLT8]

I understand that things are often more nuanced than they may appear, and in questions of moral judgement there will always be room for fuzziness. Personally I think the idea of compromising security for everyone in order to make life a little easier for the TLA's is not something I'd feel comfortable doing. I consider an individuals right to privacy paramount, something without which we risk unbounded tyrannical rule. Others will probably feel differently when presented with 'think of the children' style arguments. I'm glad to hear though that you were at least conflicted enough to be asking questions.

[bertil]

> compromising security for everyone

I don't think you understand how Onavo works.