This is where the last mile problem comes in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_mile_(transportation)

Slightly off topic but I did like one of them being so frank about Linux and open source. They worked for a while with the NSA, all they said was "Linux has 100 million lines of code. You have to fooling your self to think we didn't slip in hundreds of backdoors onto that thing". The same can be said of almost any other system though.

I have long suspected that the gaslighting thing of "it is just subconscious coincidence" is just a very neat cover for these things. There might be a slight influence but it is nowhere near as powerful an effect as they would like you to think. With advertising swaying people, they can move a few percent of people a few percent in one direction but it doesn't really target individuals effectively in guaranteeing results. Only as an aggregate.

On talking lovingly about smoked salmon, it took 2 days for it to turn up.

I have also seen it happen with folks talking about Jeep for instance.

And when you run it that is exactly what happens. It assumes the worst and the vast majority of things do not work. All it really does is slow your browser down to an absolute crawl as it tries to do its thing. I just ended up with Noscript and making a few exceptions where needed. It is a much better middle ground than this.

But when you think about the amount of industries advertising covers, it might still be tame. Hard to tell from the outside and even the inside on this until it is in the rear view mirror.

I do hope that those working in these companies actually building the tools do care. But unfortunately, it seems that corruption is an emergent property of complexity.

Tim Cook unfortunately is so captured in that quarterly mindset of 'please the share holders' that it is only a matter of time.

To that I would recommend the translation of it by Red Pine (Bill Porter), not only is is a wonderful translation but it does so much to add additional context via others commentary on the chapters through out the ages.

About the only way to even vaguely keep your email private is to use a self hosted server with GPG keys. And any lapse on security updates for that thing and you could be compromised almost immediately.

Beyond that I cannot think of anything more one could do.

I have always treated email as something to travels in the clear. My current provider (Fastmail) is compromised by authority. The Australian Privacy Act 1988 by being based in Australia and it gets caught up by PRISM as the servers are run out of New York.

While I get what you are saying, that is a little too black and white for the entire field. Privacy can be used to shield whistle blowers from the state.

On my end it is just a manner of optics. The money being put aside, I never see week to week thus it just seems like an added bonus even though it is really just a part of the pay cycle.