First: Very cool that Barry realizes that the CIA has their fingers in every pie the Fed cares about. I wish most libertarians were that aware. (This is a consequence of the nature of cybernetics or "the science of good/powerful/effectie governance." The book "The Human Use of Human Beings" by "Cybernetics" author Norbert Wiener goes into a lot of detail on this subject.)

Second: There is a force continuum. A lot of people here are treating force like an "all or nothing" binary value, hence the similar repeated criticisms. While it's true that curtailing discussion doesn't rise to the level of police aggression, or "direct physical violence" it is what is known as "an appeal to force"; an argumentation fallacy. Essentially, censorship of any kind, (anything other than free speech absolutism) reveals a deeply unfair, unintelligent, and un-American culture.

Should the Whales be forced to modify the Steem community? Only through market pressure, which is the counter-force to censorship. Physical force shouldn't be used against them, the threat of users "voting with their feet" should be.

I hope, like Barry, that the voting method becomes more "democratic" in the proper sense of the term. (In the sense it's used in the book "The Wisdom of Crowds" by James Surowiecki, and "Out of Control" by Kevin Kelly.

Heck, maybe Barry can lend his expertise to the site designers to show them how to ferret out the spooks. ;)