Donald Trump will control the NSA – what this means for your privacy | Proton
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Earlier this week, Donald Trump won a stunning election victory that will put him in charge of the world's most powerful mass surveillance infrastructure.

It is not Trump’s fault

It is tempting to blame all this on Trump, but that is taking the easy way out. All Trump does is put a new face on the existing privacy problem, so now it concerns a segment of the population that previously didn’t care as much. Proton Mail users have always come from both the left and right side of the political spectrum. Today, we are seeing an influx of liberal users, but Proton Mail has also long been popular with the political right, who were truly worried about big government spying, and the Obama administration having access to their communications. Now the tables have turned.

The same terror the political right has experienced is now being felt in liberal bubbles such as Silicon Valley for the first time. The left is correct to be terrified of a Trump-led NSA snooping on their communications, especially since Silicon Valley giants like Google and Facebook can be forced to spy on users on behalf of Trump’s NSA. However, this precedent was not set by Trump – he hasn’t even taken office yet. The first major incident of a US tech giant being complicit in US government spying actually took place in 2015 under the Obama administration(new window).

Can someone remind me about the terror campaigns we had against the political right before Trump was elected?

  • ReluctantZen@feddit.nlEnglish
    10·
    1 day ago

    I don’t think he’s saying that there were actual terror campaigns against the right. More that NSA is terrifying no matter if the left or right has control over it and that it was just as bad before Trump in 2016. Right wingers just get more concerned about NSA when left wingers control it and vice versa.

    • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      31·
      12 hours ago

      It’s 100% fluff to pretend that until 2016 privacy was only or even mostly something the right was concerned about. His very premise that only now does the left see the problem is ridiculous on its face. (And the more I think about it, it’s typical maga thinking - well NOW you libs see what it’s like!) And he makes up that ridiculous premise only so he can say “hey guys everyone worries about these things, Trump’s not that bad.”

      • ReluctantZen@feddit.nlEnglish
        21·
        12 hours ago

        It’s 100% fluff to pretend that until 2016 privacy was only or even mostly something the right was concerned about

        That’s not how I read it.

        Trump’s not that bad

        That’s definitely not what he’s saying here. He’s saying here that the NSA is bad regardless of who is in power

        • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
          41·
          12 hours ago

          It’s 100% fluff to pretend that until 2016 privacy was only or even mostly something the right was concerned about

          That’s not how I read it.

          “The same terror the political right has experienced is now being felt in liberal bubbles such as Silicon Valley for the first time.”

          We can agree to disagree.