Person of Interest2011

Nathan Ingram:
Everything's in place. Point-to-point transit will take ten days

Harold Finch:
Hope nothing goes wrong in the rest of the world in ten days. [Harold goes to shut off the machine]

Nathan Ingram:
Wait. Do we have a contingency?

Harold Finch:
A contingency?

Nathan Ingram:
Alicia seemed... nervous. Now, what do we do if the government decides to abuse this thing?

Harold Finch:
They're your contacts, Nathan.

Nathan Ingram:
They're just people. The power that this thing represents - I mean, who would you trust it with?

Harold Finch:
Besides you? No one. Which is why the machine has been coded in such a way that it *cannot* be abused. It cannot even be accessed. It upgrades itself, maintains itself, patches itself. After tonight, no one can alter it. Ever.

Nathan Ingram:
I used to be a software engineer, Harold. Remember, back before I became your corporate beard? Any system can be compromised, given enough time. We need an off switch, a back door, and this is our last chance to build one.

Harold Finch:
You are a talented engineer, Nathan, so you should remember: Any exploit is a total exploit. The tiniest crack becomes a flood. If we build a back door into this machine and someone else finds out about it, that would be... Very bad. We need to trust the machine, exactly as we built it, and then let it go.