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Politics is reps vs dems, liberals vs conservatives, and so on. Partisan nonsense. This is a warning and discussion about the misuse of government power. Yes,

by wnight 15y ago

Politics is reps vs dems, liberals vs conservatives, and so on. Partisan nonsense. This is a warning and discussion about the misuse of government power. Yes, it is totally off-topic, like patents are, in that they're arbitrary legal nonsense. But, they're enforced nonsense and thus relevant.

davidw 15y ago
> Yes, it is totally off-topic, like patents are, in that they're arbitrary legal nonsense. But, they're enforced nonsense and thus relevant. So... by that definition, pretty much anything is fair game. You're playing "7 degrees of hacker news". How do "nonsense" laws being enforced make them "hacker news". Does it just apply to nonsense laws? I think a drinking age of 21 in the US is nonsense, and it's enforced - does that expand the purview of this site to articles about that, too?
- wnight 15y ago
  It's hacker news because it's about high-tech spying. And it's discussion-worthy because it's a secret, a huge tech project, and fundamentally flawed in multiple ways. I thought that went without saying. What I'm talking about is how an otherwise relevant story is still relevant even if it is also a political or otherwise off-topic. A story about a cool new location tracking tech is hacker news even if the specific example is tracking hockey pucks or real-time overlaying of ads in stadiums or whatever. Almost anything is relevant if it has a complex or interesting impact on our lives. Some political wind-bagging, no. A new law, especially a far-reaching one contrary to existing law or policy, very much so. That you think the drinking age is nonsense does seem like a worthy topic, whether you support party X, does not. Tie that to tech or traditionally hacker-related topics such as privacy or freedom to tinker and it seems relevant to this site, even if tainted with a dash of politics.

by wnight 15y ago

davidw 15y ago

> Yes, it is totally off-topic, like patents are, in that they're arbitrary legal nonsense. But, they're enforced nonsense and thus relevant. So... by that definition, pretty much anything is fair game. You're playing "7 degrees of hacker news". How do "nonsense" laws being enforced make them "hacker news". Does it just apply to nonsense laws? I think a drinking age of 21 in the US is nonsense, and it's enforced - does that expand the purview of this site to articles about that, too?

wnight 15y ago
It's hacker news because it's about high-tech spying. And it's discussion-worthy because it's a secret, a huge tech project, and fundamentally flawed in multiple ways. I thought that went without saying. What I'm talking about is how an otherwise relevant story is still relevant even if it is also a political or otherwise off-topic. A story about a cool new location tracking tech is hacker news even if the specific example is tracking hockey pucks or real-time overlaying of ads in stadiums or whatever. Almost anything is relevant if it has a complex or interesting impact on our lives. Some political wind-bagging, no. A new law, especially a far-reaching one contrary to existing law or policy, very much so. That you think the drinking age is nonsense does seem like a worthy topic, whether you support party X, does not. Tie that to tech or traditionally hacker-related topics such as privacy or freedom to tinker and it seems relevant to this site, even if tainted with a dash of politics.