> all I see is rent-seeking mega corps bent on scaling their surveillance platforms Those always were around. In the days of yore there was IBM using FUD every

> all I see is rent-seeking mega corps bent on scaling their surveillance platforms Those always were around. In the days of yore there was IBM using FUD everywhere and trying to monopolize the PC through proprietary technologies, AT&T trying to shut down Unix as free software, Microsoft's monopolistic practices, etc. But at the same time a lot of people worked on free software and much more to make the world a better place, and they succeeded. What the histories leave out, what they can't convey, is the uncertainty of being one person or a small team taking on megacorp, of the experience of trying help a world where most people don't understand the problem and many who do understand still don't care. History can't convey not knowing if the story will end in a wasted career and never even being noticed, much less forgotten, or in being Linus or RMS or Graydon Hoare. That's all just normal in any project of social change. In another domain, IIRC, MLK's popularity was underwater even after the Voting Rights Act passed; can you imagine what he faced when he started - a small group, a politically oppressed minority (thus limiting their ability to get anything done), a barely educated constituency (due to the discrimination), taking on a much larger majority and centuries of Southern (and Northern) tradition.