We can all make a difference if we act. Respect to the developers that did the right thing, knowing they will receive all sorts of backlash. Thank you.
>"As software engineers, we have to abide by some sort of moral compass," Vargo told The Register at the time. "When I learned that my code was being used for purposes that I perceive as evil, I had to act."
The key here is "purposes that I perceive as evil". The list of those purposes knows no bounds, and will extend to as far as the developer deems so. Organizations should keep this mind the next time they want to use open-source software -- does our use-case sit in line with whatever the maintainers/developers' moods are that day?
To be fair, that is no less a problem with proprietary software. With open source, you at least have the option of paying someone with fewer scruples to pick up the work.
My personal perspective is that in most cases the amount of benefit "evil" people would get is likely dwarfed by the benefit to "good" people. In this case it seems ICE is a particularly nasty piece of work and the protest seems to have had some impact on them, but it's more from raised awareness than anything else.
I don't think there's any need to become paranoid about whether your morals completely agree with people whose software you're using.
