So like, here's the question: if we are going to give the people we know at Google a pass for their injustice because "don't hate the player, hate the game"... are we also going to give them a pass when they don't get involved in the attempt to get the laws changed against Google?

Most of the people I've known who work for Google seem to like Google, in no small part because of all of those benefits they receive due to all of the injustices they are enabling. Even if they feel a bit bad about what Google is doing, they still refuse to get involved because they claim it will get them in trouble at work... which is just the same problem, just shifted around a bit.

At the end of the day, all we have is "personal responsibility": if you keep shifting the blame for the things that happen in the world to the system and keep waiting for other people to come up with a solution, you've done nothing but become a demonstration for the tragedy of the commons.

Are you suggesting removing any regulations?

In my most recent startup we had many hard days, but I would often say “hey, at least we aren’t designing tactical nukes, we’re helping people get jobs”

Engineers can and should take responsibility for what they work on.

Yes, evil power hungry CEO-types (I’m an eng turned CEO) will work hard and possibly succeed anyway, but that doesn’t mean engineers are absolved of responsibility.