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Comment by brown9-2 | Hacker News Reader

This analogy is flawed. Stratfor is not a government organization like the LAPD is.

A better analogy would be to compare the Crips and a private detective agency.

I think Stratfor is an example of this trend of for-profit private outsourcers of things which used to be government-only functions.

Political science types are fond of saying "government must have a monopoly on the use of XYZ", but apparently now if you put the right retired government people on your payroll it's legit.

Military intelligence, international informant "asset" management? Good grief, this is some scary stuff.

I think the only thing political scientists say government should have a monopoly on is violence and national security. Anything beyond that and you enter a fractious field.

even there, the monopoly on both these things is mighty narrow. For example, how many political scientists would say that the state should have such a monopoly on violence that there should be no recognition of a right to defend oneself and others?

However international informent asset management? Does it impinge on the government's necessary monopoly on national security and violence? Two for two, I'd wager.....

That's funny, because the way I read the analogy, Stratfor was the Crips, gathering information and using it for private gain, and Wikileaks was the LAPD, using it for public good. Now clearly the LAPD is probably nearly as corrupt as the Crips, just in different ways-- so I'm not sure far this analogy holds, for that reason and many others. Still very amusing.

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