[snarf]

I was going to make a similar comment on another thread. Google X is mainly about the PR value around its image and recruiting/locking up talent. Google would rather have smart people locked up inside the company working on projects with a high probability of going nowhere rather than having them going to a competitor, or worse, creating the next major competitor. Facebook also engages in some of this, though not to the same extent as Google.

[elgoog1212]

FB is just younger. They have plenty of horseshit projects already, the most recent and public one being Aquila. It's not like anyone is going to allow US-controlled drones stuffed with electronics of unknown provenance to fly in foreign nation airspace "for months at a time". CIA is salivating at the thought. Under the US laws, it's not like FB will be able to politely decline if they were asked to carry a little extra equipment.