>> There's no way to defeat these companies, because they are full of people struggling to get ahead and doing their cog's part in the machine that ultimately d

>> There's no way to defeat these companies, because they are full of people struggling to get ahead and doing their cog's part in the machine that ultimately does this to us all. I don't think this is true at all. It certainly won't happen fast enough for most people's liking though. The best example of this is how Microsoft had no option but to do a 180 on open source once it realized that it was turning into an object of ridicule. (Although Windows 10 shows they still have some ways to go). You are really underestimating how powerful peer respect is amongst geeks. For example, imagine if someone from Google asked you to come work for them in 2002-2004, and said "Our motto is Dont be evil", and suddenly that became a sort of rallying cry and everyone knew who the target was. Imagine if they said the same thing today - they would be laughed off. And that is a great thing. I would guess most geeks working at the tech giants have some part of them thinking they are doing things which really benefit humanity. Here is a thread where you can see this in effect, when the person's motives are challenged, they become completely defensive. We want more of that. My prediction is at some point there will be serious internal conflict, which is excellent! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13868299 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13868299 Once more people start making a lot of noise about this in the very places that the geeks wish to hang out, they will find themselves with fewer and fewer places to go hang out. And it will then only be a matter of time before there is a large exodus from the top companies to the more obscure companies - those which can't do much damage simply because they are too small. At that point, both outcomes would be favorable - either things get so bad that the tech giants implode from internal conflict and external competition, or they will change their behavior so that they can continue to attract the developers who actually care about these things. Or it could go in the exact opposite direction because everyone stops caring, in which case we are all just completely screwed :-)