content: As u/Amadameus said, the programmers do think the technology is probably awesome. Most programmers live in their own little vacuum and don't really think about the implications of what they do and what it might be used for. In my CS class, people would scoff at the crazy professor who told us that we need to watch the ethics of what we're doing and what our government might do with it. Many of them laughed it off, I was not laughing. I was lucky to have someone willing to say it to my face, as he was damn right, and I hope it was important to at least a few other students. This technology is not unique. All  ffa   technologies will be subject to abuse by our government. Everything should be immediately suspect, especially if it contains more and more personal information. A third party would be interesting, but I cannot see such a third party existing. It would be immediately suspect as well, and I could not justify putting trust in this organization. This is the role our governments took 70 years ago. People thought they were trustworthy. Look at how that turned out. Their trust was obviously misplaced. My point is that such a third party organization would have to be incorruptible, which doesn't seem to be possible. Even if it starts that way, it will not end up that way.