Well I still think the intentions of monitoring here are still "good". There are people who think terrorists are a bigger threat to us than us turning ourselves

Well I still think the intentions of monitoring here are still "good". There are people who think terrorists are a bigger threat to us than us turning ourselves into a more fascist nation. I disagree. But I still think the drive here is still primarily for security... albeit it theater. But the theater is just covering up incompetence, not evil malice. But in Ethiopia I think I recognize the familiar pattern of government wanting to prevent communication, especially large scale fast or instant communication, because that's what leads to popular revolutions. Totalitarian governments do that often, this is why the USSR slowly leaked the news of Chernobyl over three days. And why North Korea would not show its national soccer team's World Cup games live. Too much opportunity for too many people to find each other in the streets at the same time. We are not there yet. However, it's not like our current path leads any place else. And I wonder if well-of people like Singaporeans for example, simply don't engage in violent popular revolutions? This would mean, that as long as our quality of life stays mostly at industrialized world levels, we won't do anything that extreme.