Funny you compare them to Apple. Their main product of the 1980s seemed to be a compact stereo that sounded like a really good boom box, but was weak on sound quality at volume.
As society becomes more chaotic, the cops are going to get more violent and pro-active. Look at police in Brazil and other war zones. They have to be this way, and they're not universally competent, so you get the dog-shooters and zombies volunteering for these missions as well as the regular cops.
Maybe instead of blaming the tool -- the cops -- we should fix our fractured and dysfunctional society.
I don't think this is America against democracy. Democracy is mob rule.
I think this surveillance was originally a good idea, since all the data's out there and the bad guys are using it. It was abused when it was turned from "listen to all traffic and see if you can find terrorists" to "use this whenever we suspect someone of anything."
The standardization/normalization of the web -- specifically, PageRank, Wikipedia, Facebook, and what's now totally recombinant "web design" -- has ruined the frontier aspect necessary for actual innovation.
It's full of Californians, increasingly expensive, and, thanks to heavy subsidies from state and parent-based funding, kind of filled with kind of useless people.
Otherwise, it's great. The climate's a bit warm but not too humid, there's lots of hippie stuff to do and you can run away to the suburbs which are more like Houston, and if you like live music -- even though most of it is boring -- you'll love swiping that card all over sixth street.
As far as tech opportunities? * cough * I'd look to Houston or DFW.
There are other places to work.