[eth0up]

Try to remember how hypothetical everything tended to be before Snowden. And 'twas a meager pittance that was revealed. They have toys that'd blow minds and people yee'd swear weren't people. It's all fun and games to poke fun, but holy shit those guys are NTBF'dW.

Every academic institution, every school, all under the radar of recruitment and more. It's difficult to believe, but the network is real.

There are certainly people here on HN who've been solicited, most who'll never mention it.

It's fun to imagine, though, what tight groups of highly motivated, stupidly intelligent people can do when they collectively commit to doing so - and with a hefty budget to assist.

[Schlagbohrer]

Fun to imagine that and painful to think of what we could have if such efforts and budgets were put toward education, healthcare, social welfare, public infrastructure + reliability, etc.

But then I am getting too utopian

[eth0up]

Exactly. But there's ideology, and there's reality. You know how pervasive and colossal the black budget is. We could be, as a society, almost unimaginably advanced of where we are, sans such things, sans the modern patent system, sans greed, sans corruption.

But we are, precisely where we are

Edit: I thought it prudent to leave a reminder, that the US military operates beyond patent regulations. If they want or need something, the silly games end there. And they do what they will.