[qroshan]

Thanks for this nuance answer. Unfortunately, "Nuance" will always lose to "Pitchfork", even in supposedly smart and intelligent communities like HN.

There are ZERO people from the pitchfork community who understands the pressure of working in keeping a community, region or country safe. If there is a terrorist attack, the pitchfork people have to answer to ZERO questions, while CIA/NSA/Police will have to answer 'Why didn't you do something".

It is so easy to sit in their comfortable offices and homes and philosophize about privacy when you have no skin in the game.

[godelski]

I mostly agree, but I wouldn't call HN a pitchfork community. It can definitely get that way at times, but I think nuance is welcomed and generally encouraged here. Definitely the only way to keep it that way is to keep promoting it, so don't get disheartened. There's still hope.

> It is so easy to sit in their comfortable offices and homes and philosophize about privacy when you have no skin in the game.

And I definitely agree with this. But that's also why I made a big point into that lack of encryption actually gives these agencies more work (if we look at history). The problem is exactly what you note though, there will always be failure and we ask why they can't stop near impossible things to stop. Post hoc analysis is always easier than in situ.