OP was using "cpu attached to a network" to mean "computer" and "critical path of his actions" as something like "business model". he's saying that politicians

OP was using "cpu attached to a network" to mean "computer" and "critical path of his actions" as something like "business model". he's saying that politicians, journalists, regulators, etc, got bamboozled by what was at root a very ordinary fraud, because it was enabled by fancy technology.