Seventh Movie-Plot Threat Contest Semifinalists

On April 1, I announced the Seventh Movie Plot Threat Contest:

The NSA has won, but how did it do it? How did it use its ability to conduct ubiquitous surveillance, its massive data centers, and its advanced data analytics capabilities to come out on top? Did it take over the world overtly, or is it just pulling the strings behind everyone's backs? Did it have to force companies to build surveillance into its products, or could it just piggy-back on market trends? How does it deal with liberal democracies and ruthless totalitarian dictatorships at the same time? Is it blackmailing Congress? How does the money flow? What's the story?

Submissions are in, and here are the semifinalists.

1. Snowden as an NSA plant to incent homebrew crypto, by Doubleplusunlol.
2. The NSA's quantum computer by Joshua Brulé.
3. NSA takes over Google, by Jesse Shapiro.
4. NSA, working for good, got the world dependent on them, by Guy Macon.
5. Homeopathic factoring, by Ian McKellar.

Cast your vote by number; voting closes at the end of the month.