: I really don't think it's supposed to parallel anything current or recent
: beyond surface details. It's hard to see Microsoft taking sides on
: anything but the most one-sided things because the bland route is the safe
: route and the safe route is the profitable route.

I think domestic surveillance and the omnipotent intelligence gathering agencies who carry out such acts are two of the most prevalent touched on throughout the series.

: Really? Creating discussion is good, but the presentation doesn't seem very
: nuanced to me. ONI is clearly doing bad things and doing them to maintain
: control, without even any apparent pretense to doing The Right Thing®,
: which people always fall back on (either that or "I was following
: orders")-- but then we've hardly heard from them in this, so who
: knows what they're thinking.

We get a little of what ONI is thinking of with Sully's attitude. He acts distant and confident all at the same time like nothing can possibly touch him. Sully is like this right up until Ben is in front of the Senate Armed Forces Committee.

: ...except it's not Earth, is it? It's the general central government that
: happens to be centered on our solar system and particularly on Earth.
: ...except it's not the government, it's the military, the UNSC. ...except,
: even then, it's not so much the UNSC as it is the Office of Naval
: Intelligence. The people who are propelling this even trust the Earth
: government to some degree, otherwise they wouldn't bother trying to
: convince them of anything.

The UNSC, including ONI, more or less is still acting as if they're in control of Earth and her colonies and not the civilian government. It's important to realize that there was once two unique military bodies separating Earth and the colonies, with the United Nations and the Colonial Administration Authority, respectively. The United Nations still exists as the governing body of Earth's nations and the UNSC has since absorbed the functions of the CAA and its military. When I say Earth I mean it in every little way.

It would be like if Australia and Canada, soon after gaining self-governing abilities and the right to maintain their own military, had all of their sovereignty absolved with Britain reasserting itself as their authority.