Government surveillance vendors want us to believe their spyware products are only used in limited and targeted operations against terrorists and serious criminals. That claim is increasingly difficult to justify, given the broad range of victims — journalists, activists, and now political consultants — that have come forward.
To be quite candid, if we didn’t know this when AT&T’s secret room hit the news and Chong? was the first arrest under the Patriot Act, let alone do anything but sit on our hands, that’s on us.
It’s a given that any government given enough time will slide into tyranny. This was known in 1776 and is just a trusim when humans concentrate power.
Tools of the state should be limited, transparent, and not reserved for a elite.