Definitely not the full explanation. I made a strident, blunt statement to move the discussion along. If you follow the Hobbsian thing the biggest gang is the s

Definitely not the full explanation. I made a strident, blunt statement to move the discussion along. If you follow the Hobbsian thing the biggest gang is the state. And it's supposed to be "our" gang cos we vote for it and give tacit assent to a violent monopoly we call "the law". What's happened is the law has become very weak, and so has the democracy that keeps the biggest baddest gang on the side of 'the people'. I think US society, and small companies as you say, sense that the West has been "re-wilded". In the new frontier anything goes so long as you have the money. Aaron was a principled, smart and courageous dude, but he was acting without support from a strong enough base. The gang he thought he was in, MIT, betrayed him. (Chomsky has plenty of wisdom on what terrible cowards universities and academics really are.) The law that should have protected someone like Aaron was weak and compromised. It remains so. The same (lack of) state and laws are now protecting others doing the same things as Aaron, at an even bigger scale, and for money. At least that's how I read TFA.