would probably hand it right over.â
âThe FBI agent said theyâd win if we challenged.â
âHe would,â said the lawyer. âUnless you have grounds to challenge, this is perfectly legal, remember. This is above board. You may not like it, but right now itâs the way our justice system works. No court needs to authorize this. But remember, itâs onlythe transactional stuff you have to give them.â The attorney smiled for a second. âAs you probably know, the government has its own ways of getting at the good stuff.â
Back at Robinson House, Kevin predictably blew up again. But Andrei didnât see an alternative. Instinctively, he didnât want to hand over the data, and felt that he was compromising himself. He had heard so much about the way the governmentâs intelligence agencies operated that he had no idea if they really had a case against the suspects they were supposedly investigating, or if it was just a fishing expedition. But he couldnât imagine that he would win a court challenge, and he didnât see the point of wasting Fishbowllâs dwindling reserves of cash on a quixotic attempt to avoid a foregone conclusion.
The problem prompted a number of lengthy discussions. It made them determined to ensure that Fishbowllâs security would always be as strong as it could be in order to prevent any unauthorized gathering of information on their users, to the extent that that was possible. But this instance wasnât unauthorized, and not even Kevin had an answer to the simple reality that the law required them to comply. All he could say was that it was wrong.
Andrei thought they needed to understand what Fishbowll was there to do. Was it there to challenge the law? Did it have an ideology it wanted to promote? While Kevin blustered, Andrei talked through the questions with Ben. Eventually, Andrei decided that Fishbowll was neutral. It had to be neutral. If people wanted to challenge the law, it was a medium for them to do it â the medium, not the message.
In the end, Andrei handed over the data to Dimmer, still feeling conflicted about it. He told the agent that in future Ben would act as the officer to be contacted for National Security Letters. It wasnât long before more of them arrived.
11
AS FISHBOWLL GREW , the three founders struggled to keep up with their class work. The academic authorities at the university had got to know about the website and while they had no power to stop anyone working on it â and had their own interest in seeing a successful tech start-up emerging from Stanford â they let Andrei, Kevin and Ben know that they were expected to maintain their studies. Amongst themselves, the three young men had agreed that they would each do the minimum required to get through their courses until the end of the academic year. Every other waking moment was devoted to Fishbowll.
The common room of the suite in Robinson was an engine house. Andrei and Kevin would be deep in coding, Ben would be analysing user statistics, responding to questions in the Grotto or dealing with inquiries coming from the press, which were becoming increasingly frequent. Andrei didnât want to talk to anyone. Ben became the unofficial spokesman for the company with instructions to keep the press at bay. A couple of other programmers Andrei knew from his class at Stanford, and who he was now paying to work on Fishbowll, were often crammed into the common room as well. People wandered in and out, wanting to be part of the buzz. Being college students, they engaged in long philosophical discussions about Fishbowll â its place, its purpose, its principles â and drinking games. One fuelled the other, and vice versa. While Fishbowllâs dealings with the FBI remained a secret shared only by the three founders, every other topic was fair game.
When Andrei had his headphones on and a clutch of Coke cans beside his screen â
âThe FBI agent said theyâd win if we challenged.â
âHe would,â said the lawyer. âUnless you have grounds to challenge, this is perfectly legal, remember. This is above board. You may not like it, but right now itâs the way our justice system works. No court needs to authorize this. But remember, itâs onlythe transactional stuff you have to give them.â The attorney smiled for a second. âAs you probably know, the government has its own ways of getting at the good stuff.â
Back at Robinson House, Kevin predictably blew up again. But Andrei didnât see an alternative. Instinctively, he didnât want to hand over the data, and felt that he was compromising himself. He had heard so much about the way the governmentâs intelligence agencies operated that he had no idea if they really had a case against the suspects they were supposedly investigating, or if it was just a fishing expedition. But he couldnât imagine that he would win a court challenge, and he didnât see the point of wasting Fishbowllâs dwindling reserves of cash on a quixotic attempt to avoid a foregone conclusion.
The problem prompted a number of lengthy discussions. It made them determined to ensure that Fishbowllâs security would always be as strong as it could be in order to prevent any unauthorized gathering of information on their users, to the extent that that was possible. But this instance wasnât unauthorized, and not even Kevin had an answer to the simple reality that the law required them to comply. All he could say was that it was wrong.
Andrei thought they needed to understand what Fishbowll was there to do. Was it there to challenge the law? Did it have an ideology it wanted to promote? While Kevin blustered, Andrei talked through the questions with Ben. Eventually, Andrei decided that Fishbowll was neutral. It had to be neutral. If people wanted to challenge the law, it was a medium for them to do it â the medium, not the message.
In the end, Andrei handed over the data to Dimmer, still feeling conflicted about it. He told the agent that in future Ben would act as the officer to be contacted for National Security Letters. It wasnât long before more of them arrived.
11
AS FISHBOWLL GREW , the three founders struggled to keep up with their class work. The academic authorities at the university had got to know about the website and while they had no power to stop anyone working on it â and had their own interest in seeing a successful tech start-up emerging from Stanford â they let Andrei, Kevin and Ben know that they were expected to maintain their studies. Amongst themselves, the three young men had agreed that they would each do the minimum required to get through their courses until the end of the academic year. Every other waking moment was devoted to Fishbowll.
The common room of the suite in Robinson was an engine house. Andrei and Kevin would be deep in coding, Ben would be analysing user statistics, responding to questions in the Grotto or dealing with inquiries coming from the press, which were becoming increasingly frequent. Andrei didnât want to talk to anyone. Ben became the unofficial spokesman for the company with instructions to keep the press at bay. A couple of other programmers Andrei knew from his class at Stanford, and who he was now paying to work on Fishbowll, were often crammed into the common room as well. People wandered in and out, wanting to be part of the buzz. Being college students, they engaged in long philosophical discussions about Fishbowll â its place, its purpose, its principles â and drinking games. One fuelled the other, and vice versa. While Fishbowllâs dealings with the FBI remained a secret shared only by the three founders, every other topic was fair game.
When Andrei had his headphones on and a clutch of Coke cans beside his screen â
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