How the media ignores the growing power of American surveillance

June 4, 2024

By Tim Worstall

Wired tells us that the American surveillance state is getting too powerful. This is obviously true. It’s something that people from all political sides have been saying for a long time now.

For example, Amnesty International is no one’s idea of a right-wing organization:

More than 70% of respondents worldwide are strongly opposed to the U.S. government monitoring their internet use. And in the United States, less than a quarter of U.S. citizens approve of their government spying on them.

 Nor is Pew thought of as on the Right:

A majority of Americans believe their online and offline activities are being tracked and monitored by companies and the government with some regularity. 

As the New York Times reports:

Besides the D.E.A.’s use of spyware — in this case, a tool called Graphite, made by the Israeli firm Paragon — the C.I.A. during the Trump administration purchased Pegasus for the government of Djibouti, which used the hacking tool for at least a year. And F.B.I. Officials made a push in late 2020 and the first half of 2021 to deploy Pegasus in their own criminal investigations before the bureau ultimately abandoned the idea.

 They actually admit they’re spying on us all.

As the ACLU says, this is a bad thing:

Five Things to Know About NSA Mass Surveillance and the Coming Fight in Congress. Congress must take this opportunity rein in the pervasive government surveillance enabled by Section 702.

Or the Brennan Center:

The federal government is using foreign intelligence powers to make an end run around Americans’ constitutional rights. Congress must step in.

The Feds are spying on us. Even the Feds admit they’re spying on us. The only useful political question is how do we stop them?

Well, except at Wired:

Every president of the United States has within their grasp the power of a vast surveillance state that has grown significantly over the past few decades and has beaten back any real effort to rein it in. Through America’s numerous enigmatic intelligence agencies, presidents possess the ability to dive deeply into the communications, movements, and relationships of everyday Americans. Presidents of both parties have abused the surveillance state, but under a second Trump administration, this power could be abused in ways it has never been before.

Sure, everyone’s got their own views about Donald Trump. But the potentially oppressive government spying on us all only becomes a problem when the President’s from the right? That’s not actually the way it worked out in the 20th century what with how the communist states ran themselves now, is it? But this is the thing Wired is going to worry about?

Shows quite the institutional bias in much of the media as with Wired. Breaches of the constitutional rights, too much power in government hands, this is only a problem if people not progressive or woke get their hands on it. Don’t forget, as the civil rights organisations – ACLU, Amnesty and so on – these powers have been there for some time and been abused for some time but crickets…..

Folks forgot that most basic lesson of government and politics. Never create a power that you don’t want your enemy to be able to use against you. Because sure as eggs is eggs they’re going to get elected one day.

 

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