So this is a whole piece built out of guilt-by-association. Decru, for instance, the In-Q-Tel data storage investment, was a box that transparently encrypted iSCSI storage networks; in other words, it was the kind of technology that made surveillance harder, not easier.
Why would anyone believe Pando Daily's take on such a complex topic?
The original source of this thing seems to be NSFWCorp, which if anything is nuttier than Pando (although never as lame). Indeed, the explicit preoccupation with "libertarians" (as if they could be anything but a tiny slice of SV) reads more like something Mark Ames wrote.
I agree, silicon valley does not support development of behavior tracking technologies.
Strong encryption, user privacy, "really delete my data on your server", robots.txt, have all been implemented using the latest standards, across all websites.
Terms and conditions clearly state that, user data or backup data will not be mishandled by admins, although users might be purged from the database from time to time.
Nerds and Geeks are very hippie-liberal so you won't find them supporting tyrannical governments, to sell ads.
I can't even imagine a Nerd not caring, being unemotional or careless. They wouldn't hurt a puppy ! Let alone kill 200_000 sand people !
Why would anyone believe Pando Daily's take on such a complex topic?