Regardless of what it is how many here jumping for joy if instead of a "noble security researcher" those tactics were being used against people peddling untaxed goods, rubber stamping commercial motor vehicle inspections or some other "you need to extrapolate out at least a few steps to find a victim" type crime? The government only gets away with this stuff because people turn a blind eye when its done to people they don't like.
no, the government gets away with this stuff because they have power. people turn a blind eye because it doesn't matter if they don't, because they don't have power.
The government gets away with this stuff because people can't coordinate their power, which looks basically the same as powerless people turning a blind eye. You guys are describing two facets of the same thing, but the people do in fact have more power than the government.
They can coordinate their power; it's called "government". Government employs about 15% of the labor force in America, and that's not even including contractors for whom government is the only customer.
Any large-scale coordination will necessarily eclipse the individual and take on a life of its own; you can't really have it both ways.
