While I may not necessarily agree with it, you're missing his point. Kind of like "if you're not paying for it you're not the customer", his argument is that be

While I may not necessarily agree with it, you're missing his point. Kind of like "if you're not paying for it you're not the customer", his argument is that because telecos handle communications from every organization and entity in the US, it's inevitable that they become a de facto intelligence agency for the federal government. (That is, their number one customer is their government interests.) It's sort of a corollary to the idea that all of these convictions are intended to set the precedent that all Internet users are criminals.[0] If the primary purpose of telecos is to serve the US government, and the US government wants to criminalize Internet use, then it would make sense for them to serve "hackers" with hefty sentences in cooperation with the department of justice. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5393561 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5393561