I think most people on HN would agree with the thrust of the article in its original context of software development. Transparency, user control, and freedom ar

I think most people on HN would agree with the thrust of the article in its original context of software development. Transparency, user control, and freedom are recognized as goals in and of themselves, and not just a means to produce widgets faster. If the same idea is applied more generally, the conclusion would seem to be that publicly run and accountable institutions should be prefered to privatization. In the software context it's obvious that it isn't productive to pay people to secretly reinvent the wheel over and over for profit, yet this is exactly what we do when it comes to many government functions.