@Jesse Thompson
I think the part of the discussion about Public Interest Technologists that is still really missing here is the concept that no human can reliably tell you what is actually in the public interest.
That's not entirely true. The biggest problem is that older systems of government, including democracy, are all pre-scientific, and they haven't really been updated to follow an evidence-based process. Great progress could be made in not just establishing a sensible notion of "public interest", but in all areas, if only politicians accepted reality rather than trying to use the laws to enforce some self-interested fantasy they have.
If we still believe in the democratic process
I'd rather follow the scientific process (which, really, is more along the lines of the "adversarial process" you describe). But it, too, requires an educated population in order to function properly. That's where the work needs to be done, but the systems that are promoted or already in place seem geared to keep most people in the dark.
1631da109485c18b00a7bd2870e86104378963488fa49162a1aed6bafb8e23ec