They could just get their moderators from Wikipedia. No difference between that and any other of their authoritarian "you will walk the party line" viewpoints.

Why would the "New England Complex Systems Institute" choose New York City? Doesn't New England have it's own sad (or angry) place to study?

Two points:
1. Difficult, yes. But note that 40% of the US population do not have high speed internet at home. So quite a few people live without those "necessities". And I will tell you, a number of them don't even want them, in spite of what government and NGOs are trying to push on the populace.

2. Just because you don't THINK you've had an issue with online transactions, doesn't mean that your data hasn't been compromised. Information security is an inexact science (coming from a professional) and the IT guys will always tell you it is all secure but we cannot be sure how many bots or hackers are lurking in our systems, not to mention that your data could well have been compromised once it reached it's destination.

You are obviously not much of a Star Trek fan nor have a good grip on what it takes to run a country and defend yourself. Capt Kirk spent much of his career circumnavigating the prime directive, but, more importantly, the Federation, and it's military arm, Star Fleet, didn't go about opening their doors or even leaving them unlocked so that a third world with hostile intent could steal the crown jewels. The US does not generally go around "squelching" scientific advancement unless it is expressly for the development of weapons of mass destruction by countries who outwardly support terrorist regimes and whose expressed goal is the destruction of the US. Even Alfred Nobel http://www.nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/biographical/articles/life-work/index.html would agree with me that stopping the spread of some weapons is a good thing. (I apologize in advance for my poor formatting, first time poster)