151–156 of 156 posts
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Right with you. This is illegal, plain and simple. Acts like this should not be celebrated. No matter if it's against the 'bad' guys.
Gay Marriage is also illegal in many places, but that doesn't make it wrong.
This kind of hacking is a serious felony in all OECD Annex-1 countries. That's a very different thing.
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I think the underlying message here is that Scientology is a lot more interesting to you than it is to me! Honestly, I care about global warming a lot more and yet I didn't take much time to sift through the "Climategate" emails in detail[1]. I also care about Linux security, and yet I've not done an audit of the kernel I'm currently running. I also care about the federal tax code, and have certainly not taken the ti…
From your link, "Eight committees investigated the allegations and published reports, finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct" (concerning the "climategate" e-mails). By hearing the cherry-picked quotes from those e-mails, you could get the impression that they're full of fraud, but now that the dust has settled and the investigations have been made, do you really think they're disgusting? I think this…
Actually, you're right! I read (some of) the original 'climategate' emails, and my opinion was quite contrary to virtually every independent committee. Those scientists were dirty. And clearly so.
I guess the real upshot is that "the spirit of HN" is to check original sources for stuff you really care about. It's important to do so, just in case the "experts" get it wrong.
If Scientology is important to you, then check those emails!
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> In America here, it's a state recognized religion with a Church of their own. So what? There a lots of state recognized religions, and it doesn't mean much. (The state of CA recognizes weddings performed by folks who bought their "ministership" from an advert in Rolling Stone.) > Hell, Tom Cruise is a Scientologist. Again - so what?
The point is that it is regarded as a religion here whether Germany likes it or not.
Again, so what? The French like Jerry Lewis. The Germans like David Hasselhoff.
There are lots of facts, but few are actually "points".
Am I the only one who doesn't find this all that positive? I already think scientology is bad/evil/dangerous, and I think that illegally getting access to their secrets might make the opposition (us) look worse in the public eye. Everybody has dirty secrets, both sides, and it's a bit low to go after the other side's private emails. It'd be much easier to fight/debate against their public image, which is easy enough,…
I doubt you're alone in that, and I don't think you're wrong. I can't help but feel a little glee at this and the dirty laundry that undoubtedly will be uncovered in the next couple of days. But it's a guilty pleasure. Behaviour like this just conflicts with the categorical imperative. However I might change my tone if something really serious is uncovered here. I think whistle blowing is a good thing, and this seems…
Shedding a bit more light on the ethics of the action of leaking this data, the reason why a lot of people feel conflicted about the right- or wrongness of the action, is because it is perfectly acceptable from a Virtue Ethics point of view: The fact that leaking private data would be wrong in the vast majority of cases is inconsequential because the data being that of a (generally agreed upon to be) evil organisation ascertains the moral character of the actor (in some sense).
A strict moral code like the C.I. is pretty dangerous when it forces you to disclose you're hiding Jews in your attic (sorry for the "Godwin", but that's the counterexample I was taught). It's even worse if done half-assed "well obviously you don't need to take it that strict if it leads to bad things" because then you can argue your way around everything--without even having to consider "does this make me a good person?".
And from that point of view, for me, the real question to ask: Would this person (or persons) have done the same thing if the emails did not belong to Scientology or neo-nazis or similar?
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Gay Marriage is also illegal in many places, but that doesn't make it wrong.
Oh. I see. We have unjust laws, therefore, everyone should be entitled to use coercion to enforce their personal morals and ethics. Good plan. What could possibly go wrong with it? After all, everyone capable of coercing us of anything must share our morals and ethics.
But in particular, I am especially wary of the "personal morals and ethics" of people making broad generalizations like you just did.
Fortunately, I know somebody who's perfectly entitled to enforce his personal morals right back at you. And yeah, I am aware that you could do the same thing, but you also appear to believe that to do so would make you a bad person. So it's your choice, really: Submit, Be Good, or Be Bad.
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The point is that it is regarded as a religion here whether Germany likes it or not.
> The point is that it is regarded as a religion here whether Germany likes it or not. Again, so what? The French like Jerry Lewis. The Germans like David Hasselhoff. There are lots of facts, but few are actually "points".