The "hackathon" spirit has caught on at the state level. Get a bunch of college kids to slave away for free and give the best one a paltry sum for their efforts and retain all rights to the work.
It's the spirit ever since the term "hackaton" caught the attention of the employers and the events are organized by companies for their profit instead of hobbysts/enthusiasts just for fun.
Isn't that the parent comment's point? That it's such a relatively small amount of money that the only people who are into hacking stuff anyway would attempt it.
There shouldn't be any money at all in hackathons, it should be voluntary and tinkering/hacking on technololgy for fun or societal benefit. This is for a project with a well-defined goal defined by a large government that may be used against dissidents by a authoritarian state.
That doesn't quite fit into hacker culture at all.
If they aren't going to hire a well-paid hackers full-time like the NSA does to do the same thing, then at least make the prize significant similar to X-prize.
