Re: Hello pot, this is kettle.
I could go on and on and on. Look; corporations don't have the power of governments to completely ruin your life. They can only do so by involving a government in the first place.
I don't think so. Corporations don't need government intervention to illegally pollute, to destroy someone's credit rating, to create dangerous workplaces -- in fact the only reason they don't do more of that crap is because of government intervention.
The US government employs over 2 million people.
Actually, the Executive branch employs approximately 2.75 million people. (source: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-analysis-documentation/federal-employment-reports/historical-tables/total-government-employment-since-1962/) -- by the way, this has remained steady (within ~200,000 or so) since 1962. But that's everybody they employ, the vast majority of which aren't involved in this particular scandal and don't have the power over individuals you're trying to ascribe to all of them. The size of the relevant groups (the NSA/CSS, maybe the CIA, and if you're feeling particularly paranoid, the entire FBI as well) is classified, and I've seen estimates from 100,000 to 200,000 people.
The overwhelming majority of [US government employees] are accountable to no one.
Says who? How many US government employees have you observed being "accountable to no one"? Give me some real data on this. Most US government agencies are answerable to at least two of the major branches (often Executive and Legislative, but also Executive and Judicial (think law enforcement), and even Legislative and Judicial) and there are more regulations targeting government employee behavior than targeting corporate employee behavior.
Most of them are good people, but good people can to terrible things when bored, scared or apathetic. And this can't apply to corporate employees as well?
It's easy to paint any large organization with broad strokes, but the fact of the matter is that more than 90% of the 2 million US government employees you mention have (a) no access to the data discussed in the original article, (b) little to no direct control over the fate of individuals, (c) a hell of a lot more people looking over their shoulder than you or I have and hence way more accountability than you think, and (d) would really rather you just left them to do their job, rather than lumping them in with all of those shady types.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
