Kick-back for Google granting NSA quick and easy access to their servers? A little too tin foil hat for my tastes, but it wouldn't surprise me.
My experience with wealthy people/companies is exactly the opposite, they didn't get there by leaving a "measly" $2 million on the table.
I didn't say all wealthy people would also put ethical considerations aside for $2 million. I certainly hope not.
I think that is what we are complaining about.
The idea that any government organisation would have the competence to pull this off should be a stark sign that they didn't.
It's getting tiresome that nearly every single post on HN features at least one comment accusing the NSA of being implicated in the subject of the story.
And this isn't a radical apologia. I'm deeply concerned about the NSA, GCHQ, data interception and the fact that judicial processes are being sidestepped. However, I can't help but feel that jumping at every shadow mires this discussion in so much hysteria that it's going to result in people tuning out, and the real issue being buried under reams of facile argument about whether or not the NSA has backdoored the friggin' RNG on Intel CPUs!