2026-02-23
Morality of cyberhacking versus espionage
Disclaimer
- Quick Note
- Contains politically sensitive info
- Speaking aloud, I may not endorse all these claims after a lot of thought
Main
- I seem to feel even worse about espionage aka social engineering, than I do about cyberhacking. Unsure why. Want to figure out what are my moral values around both of these.
- Cyberhacking feels transparent. Like, I am telling people openly they are my enemy, and I am going to break into their computer systems, and leak redacted info that will damage their reputation. I don't think cyberhacking and leaking redacted info is that much worse than waiting for a whistleblower to send you info and then leaking redacted info. Most people in the public seem to have different moral intuitions on this than I do.
- Social engineering and espionage feels a lot more deceptive. For instance, pretending to be a good employee and getting myself hired at an AI company. Or befriending an employee, getting into their house and then sticking some malware USB stick into their PC.
- I wonder if this is just my personal moral intuition, or do others agree?
- Maybe it just boils down to - I care more about truth and knowledge, than I care about empathy or people.
- I want to build a reputation, both with myself and with other people, than I am someone who always speaks truth.
- I am less interested in building a reputation of being completely non-violent. I am not that non-violent. I am fine making Sam Altman suffer for instrumental political reasons.
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