for example, the whole atheme IRC platform was created explicitly to provide an ethically-designed IRC stack that wasn't too hard to deploy.

the inspircd author got upset when atheme adopted features when used in tandem with inspircd that defeated unethical spying functionality, and didn't understand why ethical design was crucial.

there were numerous interactions of that type with various ircd authors, who used various excuses to justify these types of abusive features.

now i see the same defensive posture being used by various players in the whole fediverse game, who simply have not considered the ethical consequences of their work on specific features.

maybe, someday, we will get to the point where ethics and responsibility are equally balanced with inertia. that's what the #forkoff crowd really wants, incidentally.