[LINK] Australian CyberWarfare Battalion

[Jan Whitaker]

At 11:50 AM 8/08/2013, Karl Auer wrote:
> > Isn't it interesting that various power blocks say they believe in
> > democracies and transparency, until their own power interests are
> > challenged. Which then leads to the rest of us saying, if you can't
> > beat 'em, join 'em.
>
>I don't understand that last sentence.

Sorry, it was a bit obtuse. What I meant was that the general public 
either consciously or unconsciously take on board the approaches they 
see every day by those who are consciously or unconsciously seen to 
be calling the shots. So if it comes to making a decision about a 
regular person accusing people of doing something when they haven't 
(Howard's dobbing scheme) or taking what they can get when they have 
privileged access (this idea of a volunteer cyberarmy being one point 
of access) or the multi-thousand contractors with top secret access 
to national security secrets, while at the same time the political 
leaders obfuscate, lie, and manipulate the public (i.e. behave 
unethically), it is highly likely that the general person will start 
to behave at the edges as well. That's what I meant by the last 
sentence. It is far too easy to think 'I might as well get mine, all 
the guys in charge are doing it...'

If that is the pervasive ethic, then things like NSA is even worse 
because it can become a socialised norm.

Jan



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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