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Comment by dantondwa | Hacker News Reader

However, one could argue that geopolitical matters are a lot less interesting for you, private citizen. If you're not a world leader or someone involved in said geopolitical events, you will live the consequences of "the enemies of the West" from a mostly economic perspective.

On the other hand, the same cannot be said about your own government. They collect data on you and your fellow citizens and they use it. And they can mess up your life much more than what China will ever do. One recent example: the worry over period tracking apps and the recent decisions of the US Supreme Court. Those apps are a weapon against citizens who, until yesterday, were not doing anything illegal.

All tracking is bad, and the FCC should do something about it all.

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> you will live the consequences of "the enemies of the West" from a mostly economic perspective.

Did we already forget about political interference by "enemies of the West"? I mean, not just brazen election / referendum interference, but driving political narratives to stoke up internal conflicts? That is usually achieved by funding political extremists, but controlling the feed algorithm will work even better.

This isn't just a US problem either, other western countries have also been affected.

At least our own governments have some accountability to us. Foreign governments don't even have that, so I'm ok with them being the first ones to give up the tools of influence. Of course I would prefer if such tools did not exist at all, but it will be a while until we get there.

I truly believe that this is the root cause of the ever increasing division amongst Americans today. I think it's been at play for years and we're just approaching it's crescendo.

I'm sorry but thd root cause are US republicans not Russia

That's just what Russia would want you to think.

It's funny because China also thinks the US is doing this.

China does a lot more than the US government in terms of tracking and surveillance. Most tracking in the US is likely done via Google/Facebook/etc which makes it technically opt-in.

https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/asia/100000008314175/chi...

It's done by telcos and data brokers. Every US citizen has a detailed profile compiled about their personal lives that the US government can access at will. Google and Meta are the new kids at the table of a long running game.

> US citizen has a detailed profile compiled

partially true but fodder for schizophrenics and compulsive obsessions.. A truer picture is harder to convey in a few sentences.. however as a US citizen I believe that an uneasy truce has been established via law in the USA since inception, between those casually referred to as "Law and Order" who genuinely believe that governance means record keeping and monitoring, and others who do not. Unfortunately for the "others" that includes genuinely bad actors who seek to use rights to evade detection, or those too stupid or simple to think about these things at all. Meanwhile, the Net has given magnificent, grandiose power to build and use surveillance, which they have done. ill wind blows

> the US government can access at will

Warrants are at will? Nope.

You don't need a warrant to get data from a third party. The government just asks and if the they enjoy receiving special treatment and other favors in the future they comply. That's why the USG likes to have this collection devolved to private entities.

> You don't need a warrant to get data from a third party.

https://policies.google.com/terms/information-requests

"In all cases: Issue a subpoena to compel disclosure of basic subscriber registration information and certain IP addresses

In criminal cases:

Get a court order to compel disclosure of non-content records, such as the To, From, CC, BCC, and Timestamp fields in emails

Get a search warrant to compel disclosure of the content of communications, such as email messages, documents, and photos"

Some 3rd parties require warrants. I tend to think that this is the rule rather than the exception.

Google isn't the one holding the keys to the castle. Data brokers predate them by decades. The primary reason why the US has weak data protection laws is because the government doesn't want their activities to be encumbered.

Your assessment is only correct if the warrants are not obtainable at will.

Edward Snowden and the FISA court say hello.

If you don't know about it, they don't need a warrant.

Says NSA.

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