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And violating the privacy of U.S. citizens is helping to stop nation state actors how? Do you think that is proportional to the threat? Besides, last I heard a

And violating the privacy of U.S. citizens is helping to stop nation state actors how? Do you think that is proportional to the threat? Besides, last I heard a certain underregulated U.S. company enabled this mass manipulation. (Hint: it starts with an F.) And you think the KGB is bothered my these measures in the least?

Aqueous 9y ago
The Russian strategy to interfere in our election to bring about the result that occurred and that they wanted to occur clearly involved many parallel strategies operating in tandem, including targeted social media advertising in swing states, but also including possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and foreign agents, some of whose interactions were captured in foreign surveillance. The surveillance gives us the best chance of stopping something similar in the future. First it does so by letting us know that collusion was happening. Second, because the Obama administration made the surveillance public, the national security apparatus is in a political position to investigate this independently even though our country is under control of a new regime, due to political safeguards put in place designed to protect the independence of our law enforcement apparatus. Not even Nixon could get around being investigated by his own Justice Department. I'm not saying this will happen (Trump is a corrupt individual, after all), but knowing about collusion thanks to surveillance puts it in a better position to happen.
- cryptarch 9y ago
  Thank you for your perspective. Could you perhaps give me some reading material? Are you of the opinion that the amount of surveillance conducted on citizens is reasonable in the context of the balancing of civil liberties and the dignity of individuals vs. geopolitics and struggle for power? I would like to see these issues improved by decentralization (regulation to prevent the centralization of power in private enterprises) and transparancy (making it easier to spot subterfuge for everyone), but I don't yet know exactly how to built such a system and if it could work. The CIA/NSA approach is antithetical to that. Edit: I personally doubt the efficacy of surveillance because I think it disproportionately impacts citizens, while high-level state actors will generally be able to work around by having good opsec and using high-quality encryption. That's also how I ended the GP, but you don't seem to have responded to that. What is your opinion on that?

Aqueous 9y ago

The Russian strategy to interfere in our election to bring about the result that occurred and that they wanted to occur clearly involved many parallel strategies operating in tandem, including targeted social media advertising in swing states, but also including possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and foreign agents, some of whose interactions were captured in foreign surveillance. The surveillance gives us the best chance of stopping something similar in the future. First it does so by letting us know that collusion was happening. Second, because the Obama administration made the surveillance public, the national security apparatus is in a political position to investigate this independently even though our country is under control of a new regime, due to political safeguards put in place designed to protect the independence of our law enforcement apparatus. Not even Nixon could get around being investigated by his own Justice Department. I'm not saying this will happen (Trump is a corrupt individual, after all), but knowing about collusion thanks to surveillance puts it in a better position to happen.

cryptarch 9y ago
Thank you for your perspective. Could you perhaps give me some reading material? Are you of the opinion that the amount of surveillance conducted on citizens is reasonable in the context of the balancing of civil liberties and the dignity of individuals vs. geopolitics and struggle for power? I would like to see these issues improved by decentralization (regulation to prevent the centralization of power in private enterprises) and transparancy (making it easier to spot subterfuge for everyone), but I don't yet know exactly how to built such a system and if it could work. The CIA/NSA approach is antithetical to that. Edit: I personally doubt the efficacy of surveillance because I think it disproportionately impacts citizens, while high-level state actors will generally be able to work around by having good opsec and using high-quality encryption. That's also how I ended the GP, but you don't seem to have responded to that. What is your opinion on that?