[hackerspaces] will the fruits of our labors be used for good or for evil?

[Justis Peters]

Jamie,

Thanks for your insightful response. I am going to highlight this 
paragraph below. It's a rather salient caution against the potential 
influence of defense funding on otherwise peaceful projects:

On 11/30/2011 01:09 AM, Jamie Schwettmann wrote:
> Funding has a non-negligible effect on projects -- first off, it 
> generally requires direct reporting to the funder.  There's a pipeline 
> straight from your project to the "defense" use of it.  Second, 
> funding sources *select* projects to fund, from projects *competing* 
> for funding.  They're going to fund the ones that have the most direct 
> "defense"-related use, encouraging the development of those over other 
> projects with a less direct or less obvious "defense"-related use.   
> Third, funding sources often have negotiating power in determining the 
> features of the project required to secure funding, so projects that 
> seem harmless to begin with can become skewed over time (sometimes 
> rather quickly), or scary when combined with the other defense-funded 
> projects.
Kind regards,
Justis