[throwaway4PP]

You shouldn’t approach it from such a detached, cynical angle. The import is as if the OSI embedded senior agents in the postal system during the labor unrest in the US during the 1910s-20s, and the FBI in Ma Bell during the second red scare in the 40s-50s.

The possibility for gatekeeping primary modes of information exchange is quite real, and quite worrying.

[smoldesu]

Neither of those hypotheticals seem that far-fetched. Maybe that's just the cynical side of me talking,

> The possibility for gatekeeping primary modes of information exchange is quite real, and quite worrying.

It's distressing today. The US intercepts an insane amount of communiqué - we knew about India's involvement in the Canadian Sikhist assassination before it happened. American-made electronics leak insurgent battle plans, tattle on domestic terrorists, enable modem-level attacks and who knows what else. The only reason you and I aren't threatened by it is the decorum required to operate an above-ground surveillance network.

No US company, especially at scale, can promise protection against the state for it's users. There's precious little anyone can do about it, nobody is selling an "alternative product" without state oversight.