The crazy thing is that no grand conspiracy is required, this is just a function (and an entirely predictable one) of the ever increasing levels of wealth inequality that we see. No political "pincher" movement required, it's just people with money finding ways to use that money to make more money.
As an aside, this isn't a username I expected to ever see again.
Agreed. Most of this is just obvious motivations to do a thing.
Recent HN article about the SCOTUS and CFAA ruling was full of folks who felt that CFAA must have been some corporatism-ish conspiracy to pass (Computer Fraud and Abuse Act) a law back in 1986 and then criminalize basic policy rules as a serious crime. And yet apparently they just chose not to do that at any sort of scale...
Rather, the most logical explanation is that some folks made some bad choices when it came to applying that law, because it was convenient for them.
As an aside, this isn't a username I expected to ever see again.