Big Brother IS Watching You - Koch Brothers Acquire Molex

The notorious and ultra-conservative Koch Brothers have acquired Molex  - MOLX

In case you are unfamiliar with Molex, they manufacture a multitude of electronics components for things like the Apple iPhone, connectors for computer peripherals, connections for motherboards, internal components for cars and innumerable appliances.

It seems that owning products like Brawny paper towels, Dixie Cups and Lycra aren't enough.  They attempted to buy Tribune broadcasting but the economics of the deal didn't materialize.  Now they've set their sights on something far juicier - electronic components.

Let all your science fiction conspiracies run wild because this is probably the most under-reported, under-noticed story of the month, if not the year.

Do we really want people with an ultra-conservative agenda controlling the intrinsic guts of our most beloved vehicles and appliances?

Suppose in the future, a protest became uncomfortable or if there was an incident happening that would be better off unseen - what's to stop a company like this from flipping a giant OFF switch?

What's to stop a company with an extreme political agenda from putting all their efforts into developing a giant OFF switch?

Your iPhone suddenly stops working? Your completely electronic car stops dead on the highway, along with thousands of other completely electronic cars?  Note that they're eliminating dials on cars now and anything remotely mechanical.  

Hmm.  Well perhaps there's something on the other side of town you shouldn't know about.  Perhaps it's something you shouldn't see.

I'm not uncomfortable with the concept of this research but I am uncomfortable at the prospect that people with extreme political agendas control this research and this technology.

Nor do I think speculating about a giant OFF switch is out of the question or out of the realm of current research.  Think of how many governments would love to shut the majority of the phones off and most of the cars down if they could.  It's not out of the realm of possibility.

When you purchase an appliance or a vehicle is it truly yours if someone might have control over it from the outside?

Will cars and phones eventually be given away free or inexpensively in exchange for given someone a certain amount of power over you the same way free email on the internet works?

If company A makes the product, but company R makes the components and they have some kind of external programming or on/off control over the device, what are you really buying and did you really buy it?  Is the actual transaction free and clear or are their strings attached?

These are questions we need to be prepared to answer.