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Comment by xvector | Hacker News Reader

> public doesn't really care.

The public can't do much because it has given too much power to intelligence agencies already. Today, the left and right almost unanimously hate intelligence agencies, but their power is entrenched.

Case in point: the Constitution is irrelevant to intelligence agencies. They genuinely believe they can operate completely outside of it and face no punishment, so they frequently do. What can an American citizen do at that point?

And who even wants to speak out against an intelligence agency if it'll put you on a list?

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> What can an American citizen do at that point?

They can elect someone that can give the agencies a hard time. I guess every time that happens though, we get a one term or less president.

Elections don't work to stop things like this. As mentioned, the agencies are far too entrenched. They literally bypass our most sacred laws and structures as if they don't even exist.

If we kept interlopers in power long enough, it could start to work. Four years or less is probably not enough time for this to work.

Intelligence agencies would certainly would blackmail or suicide any domestic element that poses a serious threat to them, since historically they don't have a problem doing this to random people.

Sure, but the more often we elect interlopers, the less often they can use that tactic without being obvious about what they are doing.

Wait, what gives you the impression that intelligence agencies care about being inconspicuous for stuff like this?

The fact that they suicide people is basically a running meme. There is nothing to hide. Everyone knows that intelligence agencies pull this shit. It surprises no one we all know they will continue to do it.

If sentiment against IA becomes really negative, they'll have a hard time doing particularly egregious stuff. Right now, plenty of people are totally fine with IAs.

> If sentiment against IA becomes really negative, they'll have a hard time doing particularly egregious stuff.

Why? What/who will stop them and how?

If 100% of people think IAs are villainous, IAs will have a hard time recruiting capable people, so they will shrink and be less efficient. It will be easier to litigate against them too, since they have less of an ability to subvert the legal process with fewer people working for them, and fewer people being on their side. Congress will be more able to act and more incentivized to act against them if the rest of the country is united in disliking IAs.

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