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A very basic one: organized crime does in fact exist (contra to claims of bogeymen) and law enforcement benefits from clandestine investigations.

It is a trade-off. The downsides have been enumerated ad nauseam on hacker forums for decades and compared to the reality of organized crime comprise just a small percentage of the ill effects experienced in a relatively low corruption society like the United States.



No one is trying to claim organized crime does not exist. They are claiming that the harms from organized crime may not be as bad on the whole as the harms from some of these laws intended (at least in part) to combat it.

This does not, of course, mean that the harms to certain individuals from organized crime aren't worse. But governing based on a small number of emotional anecdotes, and ignoring the broader harms being perpetrated to placate that vocal minority, is deeply irresponsible.


What is deeply irresponsible is ignoring the benefits of clandestine operations by law enforcement in a vain attempt to adhere to some kind of free and open source information ideology.




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