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Comment by chiefalchemist | Hacker News Reader

In exchange for what?

Looks like he was doing his patriotic duty.”Thiel's reporting to the FBI was largely limited to foreign contacts and attempts by foreign governments to penetrate Silicon Valley.”

Not uncommon in rest of the world. Once upon a time, it was American journalists who enthusiastically did this:

1. C.I.A. Established Many Links To Journalists in U.S. and Abroad: https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/27/archives/cia-established-...

2. Correspondence and collusion between the New York Times and the CIA: https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/29/corres...

> Looks like he was doing his patriotic duty.

"Thiel publicly called on the FBI to investigate Google's ties to the Chinese government" kinda ignores the fact that Google competes with several of his company, and their 'ties' are allegations that come from... Thiel.

Continuing government contracts, expectation of favours in return, they almost certainly hold some dirt on him (and many others).

And that's story init? Not that anyone "rolls over" for the FBI. We all know it happens. The question is why. in this case it's likely not money. PT has plenty.

1) So what would motivate him?

2) How often do these type of "exchanges" go on, and we have no idea someone's (e.g., politician, journalist, industry titan, etc) actions were dictated by the Intelligence Community? This isn't a conspiracy theory. It's IC 101.

I mean it happens every day. When people have a lot to lose and not much left to gain, they tend to roll over a lot more easily.

As far as what would motivate him: look at what's happening to Musk right now as an example. I'm not saying he doesn't comply and cooperate with law enforcement, but he's certainly being made a big example of right now from all sides.

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