Hi dang, I fear the line between a political "discussion" and "flamewar" here may be quite thin, and not easily distinguished for the layperson. There is not a

Hi dang, I fear the line between a political "discussion" and "flamewar" here may be quite thin, and not easily distinguished for the layperson. There is not a neat separation between politics and technology/surveillance/policing/violence anymore, and in this day and age remaining apolitical isn't really a possibility for anyone who engages even shallowly with society at large. The tech world has been dragged kicking and screaming into the rest of society, and with it, the messiness of culture and politics and values. There's no going back. This story in particular is inherently about the intersection of technology, culture, and politics, the exact sort of thing any good hacker SHOULD be interested in. Whether it's Stallman, Linus, the EFF, Mozilla, Snowden... there is no such thing as apolitical, value-less technology anymore. What good is code in a bubble? Technology has impacts on society, and society impacts technology. If the goal is to restrain the discussions here to only technologies that have no obvious political connection, the realm of theoretical comp sci as opposed to anything applied or public-facing, well... that's unfortunate, but that's your call. I hope you will reconsider this viewpoint, but I doubt my single voice holds any sway in the grand scheme of things. You and others probably want to prevent this place from becoming like r/worldnews, which I understand, even if I don't completely agree. I don't think I can do what you're asking for -- remain apolitical in the face of political technologies -- without completely sacrificing the spirit of meaningful discussion. Too many of the world's evils are created and maintained by people who just work on technology without thinking of their larger repercussions, and I cannot in good conscience do the same. Anyhow, you're probably sick of hearing stuff like this. I shall refrain from further posting, and return to lurking, and not further disturb your community. Thank you for a fun few months.