"The difference between WW2 codebreakers and today's NSA and what have you being, of course, that WW2 codebreakers were used against to crack the communications of a defined enemy. So yes, it's perfectly reasonable to object to a practice that considers literally everybody, civilian or not, foreigner or not, to be an enemy."
Actually the spying was on all nations. It was only after the US started Lend-Lease that the spying was restricted by the US. The USSR spied on the US all through the war even when they where our "friend". Frankly that action is why the spying on "friendly" countries became common. For example during the Yom Kippur war the US spied on Israel to and made them live up the the cease fire.
The US was spying on Germany and German companies long before 12/7/41. They spying on Japan also predates the war.
Sure work to put laws into place and make them good ones to protect US citizens but also understand that every nation will spy to the best of it's abilities. If you thin Nations in Asia, the EU, South America, or Africa are any different than you are simply fooling yourself.

Citation?
Cuban Missile Crisis

" I am torn between admiration of the technical brilliance of building software like this and horror as to how it is being used."
Why? Over most of history spying has saved lives more than taken them.
I find it so odd that people on Slashdot sing the praises of the "Codebreakers" of WWII but are shocked and freaked out that they are still around today.
BTW the US and Britian both spied and used code breaking before the war started so... Yes they were spying in peacetime!!!!! Shocking.

Sigh... You really need to go back to your Logic class...
A false dilemma fallacy requires that the choices be limited. I did not say that those were the only two options. You have many good and bad options to the dilemma. What I was showing was simply that a much better option was available and that they the one being defended was not a good option.
Yes there are worse options but the one your are defending is very far from a good one.

Really?
So you are saying the local PTA that raises funds for a school should be forced to pay it all to a national fund?
So for example my school had no AC so my mother worked to raise enough money to put in AC at my elementary school. So she should have just dumped the money to some national system?

"The hardware knowledge argument has become virtually irrelevant in the EC2-world where you can spawn VM pretty much transparently."
But not cost free.
The every cent spent of VM comes right out of the bottom line. Take a look at the all the hard work Facebook does at optimizing.

"After all, this website is full of people who have no reason to have known about an obscure niche language, regardless of it's significance and importance."
This is Slashdot and not CNN or People magazine online. This is News for Nerds.
"I'd say it's more troll like to judge people for not knowing about a language that is, at best, obscure and not well known outside of academia and research."

Ahh... You see that is where you are missing it.
Lots of people don't know about Haskell and that is fine.
I judged people not because they lacked knowledge but because they dismissed the value of that knowledge and make no effort to increase their knowledge.
Or to put it in simple terms.

Hear about the death of the creator of something you never heard about.
1. Google it and learn what it is.
2. Dismiss it because you don't know about it.
Which is the better path?

YikYak is a good example of why we can't have nice things. It could be really cool but for the most part it is full of idiots.

"So I agree with you, there is no reason for your opening post to be thought of as a troll."
Actually yes there is.
You see we have this thing called the internet and the internet has services one is called Google and another is called Wikipedia.
You see something you do not know about you have too options.
1. Look it up and find out what it is.
or
2. Dismiss it because it is outside your area of knowledge.

By dismissing it you are being a jerk. This is Slashdot so a cool programing language is still a cool programing language even it it is not super popular. Here are some systems written in Haskell
https://wiki.haskell.org/Haske...

In other words it is really dumb to take pride in what you do not know.

When was a Mac cheaper than the Amiga? Not in my memory. I have a Mac now and really like OS/X as I said I like all tech...

Sorry I like all tech.
Back in the dark ages I love my C64 but the Atari was cool and I so wished I had the software base and slots of the Apple II line.
When I got my Amiga I still thought that Atari ST was cool and the Mac was interesting but out of my price range.
PCs? I own a Macbook and love OS/X. I write Windows code for a living but I also work on Linux. BSD? Also interesting.

Intel? ARM? AMD? MIPS? AVR? PIC? Yea it is all good.
So much cool stuff and so little time. Why do people need pick and be nasty when there's so much cool stuff.

I always found the Pinto hate odd. The Pinto had a less of a problem with rear end collision turning into a fire than a lot of other cars of that time. The worst car for that issue back then was the Datsun 210.
The Corvair was another one. The VW Beetle and Porsche 356 and early 911s all had the same "problem" as the Corvair but the Corvair got the heat.

"Is it more efficient than just using the electricity to charge up batteries in an electric car for example"
Think of ships, planes, and remote locations where you must transport fuel like Alaska.

"You're right that we don't have enough renewable energy yet to make this a useful technology. But hopefully that day is coming."
No it will not.
Nuclear is the key to low carbon power. Wind and Solar will help but they do not work well as baseload. Thorium based nuclear and possibly Fusion aka Lockheeds High Beta reactor is what is needed.

"However, the BND did not inform the German Chancellor's office,"
Can you say plausible deniability?

Sorry but the EU still uses MPG using those old fashioned imperial gallons.