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I think you're right unfortunately, maybe the Patriot Act will get expanded or maybe there'll be a sibling Good People Have Nothing to Hide Act. Speaking from

I think you're right unfortunately, maybe the Patriot Act will get expanded or maybe there'll be a sibling Good People Have Nothing to Hide Act. Speaking from my vantage in the United States, I can't believe how quickly the population has become knowingly accepting and complicit with a mass surveillance culture. I'm equally concerned with how quickly ownership of purchased goods has been undermined by the server-client model of the internet. These two things are linked and fundamentally disagree with the basic premises the US believes itself to be founded on ... It's hard to draw parallels historically in a way that gives hope. There is quite a lot of middle ground and reasonable solutions that just don't get mentioned in the political theater of today's corpocracy. I know all this has basically become a meme on HN, but every government not following the EU's example and iterating on things like GDPR is implicitly supporting authoritarianism (if not explicitly) and setting up an oppressive future that their children will be trodden down by.

canjobear 5y ago
The Patriot Act is no longer in force.
- alexanderdmitri 5y ago
  They suspended the vote to extend it, so currently expired yes, but I think if/when it goes to vote it will continue to live on. Also, I have not seen evidence that its effects have been nullified with its expiration, but I'm willing to learn.
  - sudosysgen 5y ago
    They will definitely retro-actively extend it if it is needed. Already has been done for AT&T
oceanplexian 5y ago
People haven’t accepted mass surveillance, they just don’t understand what it is and have been mislead by the media, government, and corporations into silently consenting to privacy intrusions. They think it won’t be used against them, until one day it does, and they are horrified when a divorce attorney is talking about the GPS movements from their “connected car” or their bank closes an account and locks out their funds because they attended a political protest. Unfortunately for them the realization comes way too late.
- flyinghamster 5y ago
  > They think it won’t be used against them, until one day it does, and they are horrified when a divorce attorney is talking about the GPS movements from their “connected car” or their bank closes an account and locks out their funds because they attended a political protest. Not to mention those horrified at finding out that even though they deleted their tweets and videos, the feds have shown up at their doorstep because they were in a rampaging mob in the Capitol, searching for elected officials to murder. I wish there was a nice, easy answer on where to draw the line with surveillance. I'm actually glad that the insurrectionists left a zillion-mile wide electronic trail, but I'm all too acutely aware that these capabilities can be turned against anyone, and I'm dead-set against backdooring encryption. At least (US-specific here) there are nominally limits on what the government can do, but those limits are often ignored, and private corporations have much freer rein on what they can do with your data.
  - throwaway3699 5y ago
    Most people are still not sold on January being an insurrection, FWIW. People thought they were going to a political rally, not to murder senators. Things just got out of hand because lunatics decided to storm the building. Why else would they bring smartphones?
    - flyinghamster 5y ago
      Zip-Tie Guy™ wasn't there to protest, and neither was anyone else who entered the Capitol.
      - salawat 5y ago
        Funny how the 1% that take it too far always seem to be just the excuse most otherwise seemingly reasonable need to justify supporting the revocation or curtailing of civil rights. Part of liberty is cleaning up the mess when some people take it a bit far, and moving on.

canjobear 5y ago

The Patriot Act is no longer in force.

alexanderdmitri 5y ago
They suspended the vote to extend it, so currently expired yes, but I think if/when it goes to vote it will continue to live on. Also, I have not seen evidence that its effects have been nullified with its expiration, but I'm willing to learn.
- sudosysgen 5y ago
  They will definitely retro-actively extend it if it is needed. Already has been done for AT&T

oceanplexian 5y ago

People haven’t accepted mass surveillance, they just don’t understand what it is and have been mislead by the media, government, and corporations into silently consenting to privacy intrusions. They think it won’t be used against them, until one day it does, and they are horrified when a divorce attorney is talking about the GPS movements from their “connected car” or their bank closes an account and locks out their funds because they attended a political protest. Unfortunately for them the realization comes way too late.

flyinghamster 5y ago
> They think it won’t be used against them, until one day it does, and they are horrified when a divorce attorney is talking about the GPS movements from their “connected car” or their bank closes an account and locks out their funds because they attended a political protest. Not to mention those horrified at finding out that even though they deleted their tweets and videos, the feds have shown up at their doorstep because they were in a rampaging mob in the Capitol, searching for elected officials to murder. I wish there was a nice, easy answer on where to draw the line with surveillance. I'm actually glad that the insurrectionists left a zillion-mile wide electronic trail, but I'm all too acutely aware that these capabilities can be turned against anyone, and I'm dead-set against backdooring encryption. At least (US-specific here) there are nominally limits on what the government can do, but those limits are often ignored, and private corporations have much freer rein on what they can do with your data.
- throwaway3699 5y ago
  Most people are still not sold on January being an insurrection, FWIW. People thought they were going to a political rally, not to murder senators. Things just got out of hand because lunatics decided to storm the building. Why else would they bring smartphones?
  - flyinghamster 5y ago
    Zip-Tie Guy™ wasn't there to protest, and neither was anyone else who entered the Capitol.
    - salawat 5y ago
      Funny how the 1% that take it too far always seem to be just the excuse most otherwise seemingly reasonable need to justify supporting the revocation or curtailing of civil rights. Part of liberty is cleaning up the mess when some people take it a bit far, and moving on.