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Comment by kevin_thibedeau | Hacker News Reader

If I was a government party with subpoena power I'd be really interested in the email chain around that decision.

The code review comments indicate they had an in-person meeting: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D86987

(My impression is that the feature is hidden behind a setting because it's half-baked and not yet ready to replace opensearchdescription xml, add-ons, and bookmark keywords as the official way to add search engines.)

If you were a government party with subpoena power, you'd think the internet was made of tubes. You'd have no idea how tech works, and only rubber stamp things tech companies provide you. Otherwise, you'd be over qualified and too focused on things other than raising money, kissing babies while stealing their lollipops.

To be fair to some of my former colleagues in government, there are some folks who do know about tech in Congress and smattered across federal agencies and the White House. While politicians themselves may not know how the internet works, if they listen to their staffers (which many do on the actual technical part of a topic if not the political or other implications of an issue), they are probably at least somewhat informed.

For those with tech knowledge who want to try to change things, I recommend checking out https://www.techcongress.io/, https://horizonpublicservice.org/ (they both have a cohort they're recruiting for right now) and USDS.

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