Slashdot Mirror


Will Trump's Presidency Bring More Surveillance To The US? (scmagazine.com)

An anonymous reader reports that Donald Trump's upcoming presidency raises a few concerns for the security industry: "Some of his statements that industry professionals find troubling are his calls for 'closing parts of the Internet', his support for mass surveillance, and demands that Apple should have helped the FBI break the encrypted communications of the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone," writes SC Magazine. One digital rights activist even used Trump's surprise victory as an opportunity to suggest President Obama begin "declassifying and dismantling as much of the federal government's unaccountable, secretive, mass surveillance state as he can -- before Trump is the one running it... he has made it very clear exactly how he would use such powers: to target Muslims, immigrant families, marginalized communities, political dissidents, and journalists."

Edward Snowden's lawyer says "I think many Americans are waking up to the fact we have created a presidency that is too powerful," and the Verge adds that Pinboard CEO Maciej Ceglowski is now urging tech sites to stop collecting so much data. "According to Ceglowski, the only sane response to a Trump presidency was to get rid of as much stored user data as possible. 'If you work at Google or Facebook,' he wrote on Pinboard's Twitter account, 'please start a meaningful internal conversation about giving people tools to scrub their behavioral data.'"

Could a Trump presidency ultimately lead to a massive public backlash against government surveillance?

29 of 412 comments (clear)

  1. Yes! by Mitreya · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes he will
    But so would have Clinton.

    1. Re:Yes! by markdavis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      +1 exactly.

      This is why so many of us are upset about the process. WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH CHOICE. We end up having to elect people based on conflicting single issues. But when both candidates share the same negatives, and surveillance is just one, you lose, regardless.

      There is ZERO doubt that Hilary Clinton would bring more surveillance. Same with Trump. She would have been all sneaky about it and probably lie about it too. He will more likely be loud and annoying about it.

    2. Re:Yes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      She should be in jail. She broke the law in ways that would have had the average person in jail for a very, very long time.

    3. Re:Yes! by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 4, Informative

      IMHO this is the result of decades of people saying "don't throw your vote away by voting third party."

      And they are all correct, in our First Past the Post election system, you ARE throwing away your vote by doing that...

      If you want to change it, you have to change the election system.

    4. Re:Yes! by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Funny

      Trump likes digging up dirt on people and threatened to put his political rival in jail (let's see if he was lying). This is exactly what people were warning about.

      Come on now folks. This too shall pass. If we look at Germany, they had a few rough years from the late 30's to mid 40's. But today Germany is a pretty darn nice place.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    5. Re:Yes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Trump likes digging up dirt on people and threatened to put his political rival in jail (let's see if he was lying). This is exactly what people were warning about.

      I guess that's why people are sitting in US military prisons for doing less than Hillary right. Never mind that team Obama and the IRS actually went after people for not having the right viewpoint. Or that in multiple states that democrats and AG's wanted to prosecute people for daring to have a point of view contrary to the orthodoxy on global warming.

    6. Re:Yes! by breech1 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Trump is a totally different matter. Democrats and most of the media will never support anything he proposes even if it was a democrat issue, and many Republicans don't support him either. If he does anything out of the ordinary he will be impeached faster than the news media can say "Trump is Grand Wizard Adolf Stalin."

      I've seen that line of thinking before and I think it's wishful thinking. The Republicans that were against Trump did so only because they thought he was damaging their election chances. But Trump won. And now Republicans will line up behind him to support whatever he wants. There might be some intraparty squabbling, but that will only be over the scale of an idea. As for impeachment, that'll never happen. Democrats won't have a majority in the House anytime soon to force the issue and Republicans won't impeach one of their one.

    7. Re:Yes! by Paul+Carver · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Clinton had a chance to win (and wasn't far from it, actually).

      If you have a means of visiting alternate universes and/or timelines then you correct. However, in this universe and this timeline you are incorrect. Clinton had zero chance to win as demonstrated by the fact that she didn't.

      Speculating on what would have happened if 100,000 people did something other than what they did is pointless. And you're making a big assumption in thinking that 100,000 people who didn't vote for Clinton would be happy if she won.

      I didn't want to Trump to win and didn't vote for him, but I'm glad Clinton lost. I certainly wouldn't have felt good if I learned I was the person who put her over the top. If Clinton had won it wouldn't have been the end of the world, and the world isn't going to end because Trump won either, but neither one of them deserves to claim that I voted for them. My vote counted and is reflected in the election results as part of the small but statistically significant percentage of the US population who took the time to go out to their polling place and register their belief that neither Trump nor Clinton are a worthy choice as president of the US.

      Unfortunately the polls don't distinguish between the opinions of "I think Hillary Clinton will be the best president ever" and "I think Hillary Clinton will be the worst president ever but I'm going to vote for her anyway" so I would say people with the second opinion threw away their vote by making it indistinguishable from people with the first opinion.

      Now, for someone who thinks that Hillary is fantastic but voted for someone they thought was just a tiny, tiny bit better, then maybe that wasn't a good choice. But for someone who thinks that Trump and Clinton are both horribly bad choices, voting for the one who is marginally less horrendous is not a rational course of action.

      What makes you think you can even claim that 100,000 people in Wisconsin were on the edge of choosing whether they loved Clinton more than the third party candidate they voted for?

      Maybe those 100,000 feel like the choice between Trump and Clinton is the choice between drinking out of a septic tank or out of the pre-treatment tank of a residential sewage treatment plant. Maybe they voted for drinking out of a clean mountain spring even though they new they'd end up drinking sewage one way or another. And maybe they're glad they didn't vote to drink sewage even if that's what they ended up with.

    8. Re:Yes! by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 3, Interesting

      > She was being practical and mistakeingly cut a few corners. No real harm was done,

      As an IT professional who handles confidential data, and data security, that act was not "cutting a few corners". The leaks show that she was using the private server for direct activity as the Secretary of State as a matter of course. I've helped fire people who were pulling such abuses, especially for sensitive data such as HIPAA protected medical documentation or FERPA protected educational records.

      Like failing to scrub a computer for handing it over to another employee, or leaving your passphrases on sticky pads on your desk, it's a very foolish and normally unnecessary act. Please don't ignore the very real misbehavior revealed by these leaks and charges.

      That said, the woman is _far_ less dangerous than Mr. Trump, whose insistence on gambling at every level of personal and professional life is legendary and constitutes a _much_ larger danger.

  2. Funny how that works by IWantMoreSpamPlease · · Score: 5, Interesting

    >>...suggest President Obama begin "declassifying and dismantling as much of the federal government's unaccountable, secretive, mass surveillance state as he can -- before Trump is the one running it..

    When Obama got into power, I assumed he'd be the typical liberal. Little did I know he'd get very friendly with the expansion of the police state. He's enjoyed using the presidential powers at whim. Now that he's leaving, someone else gets to pick up the parts he so willingly put into place and use them.

    Should have thought of that before you put it into law eh there mr. president?

    --
    So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
    1. Re:Funny how that works by Salo2112 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      The typical liberal is perfectly happy with concentrating power in the state - as long as they are running the state. This is why the American left thinks the right to keep and bear arms is not an individual right.

      >>...suggest President Obama begin "declassifying and dismantling as much of the federal government's unaccountable, secretive, mass surveillance state as he can -- before Trump is the one running it..

      When Obama got into power, I assumed he'd be the typical liberal. Little did I know he'd get very friendly with the expansion of the police state.

    2. Re:Funny how that works by Kohath · · Score: 4, Informative

      Here's Glenn Greenwald's editorial on it. Dems were OK with surveillance and unchecked government power starting the day Obama was nominated.

      You say "typical liberal" as if that's a genuine belief system and not just a storytelling style designed to persuade a specific subculture.

    3. Re:Funny how that works by haruchai · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >>...suggest President Obama begin "declassifying and dismantling as much of the federal government's unaccountable, secretive, mass surveillance state as he can -- before Trump is the one running it..

      When Obama got into power, I assumed he'd be the typical liberal. Little did I know he'd get very friendly with the expansion of the police state. He's enjoyed using the presidential powers at whim. Now that he's leaving, someone else gets to pick up the parts he so willingly put into place and use them.

      Should have thought of that before you put it into law eh there mr. president?

      The only way Obama could have been considered a liberal is if he was being compared to hardline conservative. Just because the GOP loudmouths were labeling him a socialist for months before he was elected didn't make it true.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    4. Re:Funny how that works by jbengt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The typical person is perfectly happy with concentrating power in the state - as long as they are running the state.

      FTFY

    5. Re:Funny how that works by ooloorie · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You say "typical liberal" as if that's a genuine belief system and not just a storytelling style designed to persuade a specific subculture.

      We really need some indication for distinguishing US "liberal" from actual "liberal" in discussions. US "liberals" jettisoned economic liberalism a century ago, and have gradually shed personal and social liberalism over the last half century. US "liberalism" has become some kind of authoritarian technocratic progressive welfare state; it is the antithesis of actual liberalism.

    6. Re:Funny how that works by Feral+Nerd · · Score: 4, Interesting

      By any measure Obama is center-left. That said, he did deport more illegal immigrants than his predecessor, he did not close Gitmo, and he kept executing wars of aggression against other countries.

      Still, let's review this quote from TFA: "I think many Americans are waking up to the fact we have created a presidency that is too powerful,"

      I think that was true already even before Obama was president. But, of course much of the debate stopped because the ones making this argument liked Obama and his center-left policies. If electing Trump keeps this debate going that is a good thing - but I suspect most people are just in opposition because their candidate lost, and would not be discussing it if Clinton had been elected.

      By any US American standard Obama is center-left, in Europe he'd be center right to moderate conservative. Just about the only US leftie I can point out that would register with a European as a moderate Social Democrat is Bernie Sanders and he scared the whits out of the so-called leftist Democrat party with his beliefs. By European standards vast sections of the Republican party bring back unpleasant memories of fascism and witch-burning 17th century protestant fundamentalists.

  3. There already should be public backlash... by blibbo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There already should be public backlash against government surveillance, Trump or no Trump.

    Because people (including government people) aren't good at keeping secrets and make too many assumptions.

    There's no question in my mind that the US government spends too much money and other resources on this stuff. If Trump is the straw that breaks the camel's back and causes enough resentment to actually change something post-Trump then so be it.

  4. Ow! My Balls! by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Could a Trump presidency ultimately lead to a massive public backlash against government surveillance?

    Unlikely. All they care about is cat videos.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  5. Losing their minds by sycodon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Will a Trump Presidency cause Slashdot editors to lose their minds and post story after story on how a Trump Presidency will affect (insert pet cause here)

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:Losing their minds by seven+of+five · · Score: 5, Funny

      Slashdot has editors????

  6. Perhaps he should have moved sooner? by ebonum · · Score: 3, Funny

    It might be possible that a group at the NSA with lots of funding, a few smart people and little to no oversight leaked the Podesta emails. They have access to computers in botnets in Russia and Eastern Europe. They certainly have the hacking skills. They have the language skills. People in the intelligence community might not be big Hillary supporters.

  7. Without a doubt by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Plus, they are one state away from having enough power to add or delete amendments to the Constitution. There is no way to stop them as they now control how votes and whose votes are counted.

    I'm sure there are a ton of good people in this country, but like in this election, they will continue to do nothing.This grand experiment in democracy is over and no one is coming to the rescue.

    1. Re:Without a doubt by Kohath · · Score: 5, Informative

      Plus, they are one state away from having enough power to add or delete amendments to the Constitution.

      It takes 38 (3/4ths of 50) states to ratify an amendment. Republicans don't control 37 state legislatures. It's 33.

      Hopefully we can get a balanced budget amendment anyway.

  8. junk-science by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm taking the Climate Change denier position on the surveillance state.

    1. There's no real proof that there is ubiquitous surveillance.

    2. If if there was real proof of ubiquitous surveillance, there's no real proof that it's a bad thing.

    3. Anyway, it's too late to stop ubiquitous surveillance, so there's no point in trying.

    4, Ubiquitous surveillance might actually be good for us.

    5. All the privacy advocates are just in it for the money.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  9. No they didn't, did completely by raymorris · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They didn't contradict themselves; they *certainly* did. :)

    Seriously though I took it as not contradictory meaning:
    --
    We can only speculate.
    I'm willing to speculate that she almost certainly would have.
    --

    She's actually been in politics, observable by the public, since 1977. In those 39 years, she has manifested a belief that the elites like her are better than common plebes. No more reason they shouldn't watch us than a parent shouldn't watch a six year old; based on what her view seems to be.

    Trump's public life has been all about drumming up publicity for his buildings and his brand, not about policy. I doubt he's thought much about public policy at all. He DOES have a huge ego. Such a big ego that he thinks a) he should be president and b) most of America will agree he should be president. Unfortunately all presidents have that megalomania.

  10. Clinton by JBMcB · · Score: 5, Informative

    Clinton voted to invade Afghanistan and we wrecked that country - even more so than it was before, which is quite a feat.
    She voted to invade Iraq and we wrecked that country - killing hundreds of thousands of civilians directly and indirectly.
    She recommended invading Libya and we ruined that country.

    Her next step would be military intervention in Syria. Because we have had such a good track record over there.

    What's your definition of psychopathy?

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
  11. Can we even speculate? by fyngyrz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Clinton is of the same party, and has made a number of statements that align her closely with President Obama.

    President Obama (re)imposed the (un)PATRIOT(ic) act on the US; if that doesn't give you a guiding sense of where the party is, and very likely where Mrs. Clinton is in terms of invasive surveillance, imposition on personal liberty, and constitutional malfeasance, I don't know what would.

    Not to say President-elect Trump is likely to be any better, but inasmuch as his campaign was riddled with trivially disproved falsehoods, and in just the few days since the election, we've seen (at least) these radical pivots from him and/or his team...

    o Not getting rid of pre-existing conditions or the ACA as a whole;
    o Not dumping the banksters (met with them already to kill Dodd–Frank consumer protections)
    o Not cleaning house (already hiring the most in- of the in-movers and shakers and lobbyists, for his team)
    o Not actually building a wall, that was just figurative;
    o No special prosecutor for Clinton ("what a great campaign she ran!");
    o Making nice with President Obama after explicitly claiming he was the worst president ever;
    o The whole "no-ties with Russia" thing, oops, lots of ties, plus wikileaks admitted by the Russians now;
    o Going from "ultra-vet all Muslims at the border" to "we will not allow people in from terrorist regions"

    ...I don't see any way to associate his previously asserted goals with his actual intent. So I can't say he'd be any worse, either. The man is a policy cypher. A misogynist, xenophobic, sexist, rude, compulsive, racist, and frankly, none-too-bright policy-cypher with a grade school vocabulary and the rhetorical (lack of) skills of (at best) a 7th grader. Who knows what the heck he will do if the EC lets this farce come to fruition?

    What a weird set of circumstances.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  12. Nobody really knows what he'll do. by hey! · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because he doesn't consider himself bound by his prior statements, and his supporters don't hold him to them.

    There are some things we know he won't do: build a border wall and make the Mexicans pay for it. There are other things we can be pretty sure he will do: lower taxes on the wealthiest people. But everything else will depend on how he feels that day.

    There's a reason both liberal AND conservatives don't like him, because he's basically unprincipled. But similar conversations are going on on both sides to the effect: maybe we can exploit some of this situation to our advantage.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  13. he'll be a good boy by swell · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The cameras are gone, the show is over. He's now surrounded by people with urgent messages of dire need. They are concerned about trade, about national security, about oil, and about a popular revolt due to economic disparity.

    He will do what he's told to do.

    --
    ...omphaloskepsis often...