[benmmurphy]

I can't resist a rhetorical flourish :) The situation between defenders of the API and users of the API is extremely weird. If you were an alien from another planet and witnessed what was going on you would be shocked. People are being paid to prevent people from accessing an API and people are being paid to defeat these countermeasures. This is similar to people being paid to dig holes and other people are being paid to fill in the holes. I think the aliens would conclude there is something wrong with the economic system. I don't know what the solution is but seeing as I'm a digger I really don't want rock the boat :)

[nl]

> People are being paid to prevent people from accessing an API and people are being paid to defeat these countermeasures. This is similar to people being paid to dig holes and other people are being paid to fill in the holes

Let me tell you about this little thing called tax accountants and the IRS...

> I think the aliens would conclude there is something wrong with the economic system.

These aliens are unfamiliar with adversarial systems?

Reminds me a a SciFi short story I read once where some aliens came to earth. Everyone thought they were amazingly smart, but it turned out they had just been working on their tech for a lot longer and were very dumb. The protagonist in the story figured this out, and sold them the Brooklyn Bridge...

[octoberfranklin]

> there is something wrong with the economic system. ... I'm a digger I really don't want rock the boat

My advice, based on experience: when you find yourself in this situation immediately start looking for a way off the boat. Urgently. It is rare for people on the boat to notice this before it sinks, and those few who do always seem to overestimate the supply of lifeboats.