[no_opinions]

> The argument against it is basically that abuse of powerful surveillance technologies is inevitable precisely because the technology is so powerful.

What would be some examples of an abuse?

What would be some examples of a powerful surveillance technology?

For instance, what "surveillance technology" isn't already an internal diagnostic tool for day-to-day system administration for a telecom/service provider?

Only difference is who picks the target and them having oversight (likely having to provide a predicate/rationale). Why is this so bad?

If there's a lack of oversight, what rules and systems would you suggest to prevent abuse, as you define it?

[jimktrains2]

I think that part of the issue is that blank surveillance is as easier than surveillaning a single person used to be.

Also, it is possible to build systems where the admins can access the data or metadata. End-to-end encryption, for example parent the admin from seeing the contents of messages. Systems like Tor also prevent any one person from knowing who everyone is and what's saying. Mutual authentication can also help establish that mitm attacks aren't happening, but that's a slightly different problem than when there is access to the back end of the system being used.