[to_bpr]

More accurately we're entering a new era of politically slanted selective memories.

See: The bulk phone data collection programs instituted by the Patriot Act, the vast expansion of NSA data collection (of us all) under the Obama administration, the straight-to-the-wire tapping of critical internet infrastructure and providers such as Google, Microsoft etc. enabled by the establishment of the secret FISA court which has never denied a warrant, and so much more.

Let's also not forget the persecution endured by the whistleblowers for the above institutions by the Obama regime.

Set your partisan, hyperbolic "outrage" aside.

[Taek]

Should we not be outraged though? Everything listed in both the patent and the grandparent is worrying to me. I feel like I owe 80% of my identity to my activities and time on the Internet. Many my age feel the same.

My home is under attack.

[dingo_bat]

The thing is that it has been under attack for a long time now, and acting as if some new threat is active is disingenuous and partisan.

[SomeStupidPoint]

I don't think people are acting as if it's a new threat, but rather alarmed that it's reached the levels it has.

That is new, even if it has been ramping up a long time.

[to_bpr]

What stands out to me personally about this is that I'm 99% sure the administration could have silently achieved the same results through a FISA ordered warrant, but chose to go public in what I'm perceiving to be sending a message.

The Obama administration also sent messages but they seem to have been ignored willingly or not. Remember when the intelligence services entered the offices of the free press in the U.K. and forced the destruction of computer equipment?

The warning signs have been here for years. If the loud mouthed Trump is what triggers a movement to change things then so be it.

[willstrafach]

> Remember when the intelligence services entered the offices of the free press in the U.K. and forced the destruction of computer equipment?

This was not under any direction from President Obama, this was GCHQ as most of the Snowden leaks were their documents.

[gasof]

It is outrageous, but the adult thing to do is to control your outrage and channel it with as much rationality, honesty and balance as you can muster. More outrage supports the escalation of more repression from the left and more resistance from the right.

Outrage creates both Marxists and Nazi's, and IMO both are harmful forces if given too much attention and power. I perceive fascism as the enemy, and both the far-left and the far-right are fascist. We should strive for deescalation and respect for the individual over the group.

[13years]

Spot on. The direction we are moving hasn't changed in a long time.

The problem is that a bit less than half of the country is opposed to these issues at time. After an election cycle the other half will be opposed and those previously opposed will become silent.

[metaphorm]

trends that began years ago have been intensifying recently