what is it they’re so concerned about people talking about these days exactly anyway?
- members of opposition of the wrong kind (as defined by incumbent);
- journalists investigating the government;
(if the incumbent is brazen enough, those above can be and already are selectively targeted with paid exploits)
- political opponents of the wrong kind (aka the extrimists, which kinda overlaps with #1);
- actual enemy combatants (aka the terrorists), spys and traitors;
- organized crime of the day with unwarranted delusions of grandeur (R. Taghi, his antics and aspirations to kill the Dutch PM);
- immigrants and immigrants to be of the wrong kind and people who smuggle them;
This is their best chance for them to enact mass surveillance, before the hoi polloi crack and finally get out of their couches.
The shit has hit the fan about a decade ago already and not calming down at all, but intelligence gathering capability of secret services of all EU countries are being continiously degraded, because everything is E2E by default and money flows are obscured too.
Nobody likes to see shit being on fire and having all the dashboards down.
Another happening happens, the services are asked why they didn't prevent it or report it being likely -- what do they answer? "We can't read the damn messages, so we can't know if there is a cell that plans to do it again".
American right-libertarianism is a joke that originally started as an anarchist branch and has degenerated into getting in bed with the state to further its selfish ideals. Criticism of the state has nothing to do with those posers, as their goal is solely to become the state (i.e. the oppressor), rather than truly pursue the ideal of a free society.