BAD HARDWARE WEEK

In Theodore J. Flicker's prescient, darkly comical 1967 film -- "The President's Analyst" -- there's a bit of dialogue I've quoted many times over the decades. A Soviet spy and an American spy, friends of long standing, despite being on opposite sides, are working together informally. When the object of their common search appears to have been kidnapped right under their noses, the American spy suggests that the phone booth they'd been using was tapped.

The Russian is incredulous. "Are you trying to tell me that every phone in the country is tapped?" "That's what's in my head," replies the U.S. agent. "But Don! This is America, nor Russia!" exclaims the Russian.

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99% BAD HARDWARE WEEK: Well, I don't agree with no need for overall spying in 1967. Who will then spy on terrorist like Marthin Luther King ?, as has been noted even before the PRISM project started. 17 years later is Orwell's famous 1984. Curiously, sfter another 17 years later is Clarke's Odyssey 2001. BUT ALAS, NOT ONLY HIS 2001.