I wouldn't, personally, characterize those comments as "discussing" how the NSA is doing those things, so much as their authors throwing up their hands, and being all, "WELP!" about that behavior. "Nothing can be done! They're EEEEEVIL! If you think otherwise, then you're dumb too."
What kind of discussion is a comment like that likely to engender? Generally not very substantive, in my experience, and I've been (IMO rightly) asked by the moderators not to engage in that style of shallow discourse, despite one of my comments to that effect being among my highest-voted ever.
Popularity and/or accuracy don't entail depth, and there's a pretty clear bias on HN towards encouraging the latter.
What kind of discussion is a comment like that likely to engender? Generally not very substantive, in my experience, and I've been (IMO rightly) asked by the moderators not to engage in that style of shallow discourse, despite one of my comments to that effect being among my highest-voted ever.
Popularity and/or accuracy don't entail depth, and there's a pretty clear bias on HN towards encouraging the latter.