Isn't that exactly what you would expect if the threats were real? I'm not a believer in conspiracies but some of the large tech companies are well known for trying to silence critics. Although the same could probably be said about any company with so much money and power.
Silicon valley tries to maintain a squeaky clean image, but as we're finding out from Facebook, some of them are no better than say Comcast.
From what I've seen, tech companies generally outsource all the shady bits so they have someone to point fingers at. I've been at companies they've outsourced this work to...