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Comment by alextingle | Hacker News Reader

These capabilities present an existential threat to our democratic freedoms. The potential damage that terrorist could do to us pales into insignificance.

In essence, GCHQ & NSA have constructed a giant totalitarian state, with almost unlimited power. The only reassurance that it's not to be used against us is "trust us". However much we might trust them for now, that's simply not a good enough guarantee. Like Checkov's gun, the very existence of this weapon means that it almost certainly will be fired, eventually.

The only way for us to ensure our safety is to make sure that the weapon is put beyond use, ASAP.

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Well said.

How to get there is a difficult question - particularly the political question of how to get better policies in place. It is effectively a test of democracy, whether the people in each country (the majority of whom, I assume, prefer not to be pervasively wiretapped) can actually influence government behavior.

As for what the policy would look like, well probably each national government will be unwilling to give up much of its interception capabilities, but maybe they would like to avoid interception by other governments. So as one possible reform, one can imagine an international arrangement where nations would monitor the undersea cables and remove any spy devices.

Your post could read word for word about any military or civil program with the ability to wield force.

Should we also scrap our space program, navy, air force, police force or even law courts?

I agree with your point, but this is just a new instance of an age old problem.

> this is just a new instance of an age old problem.

The issue of limiting state force is extremely old but it is entirely a solved problem. It was solved by warrants, given by judges, and policy scrutinized by the public and constitutional limitations on executive power. Aka civilian oversight. The issue is that these agencies are operating in total secrecy, with their own rubber-stamp courts for domestic surveillance and absolutely zero oversight if the targets are foreign.

People try to frame this as a technology problem. Technology creating new opportunities and everyone (even the state) was caught off guard and our legal/political system was ill prepared for it. But thats not true. The entire growth of SIGINT was on the basis of the government utilizing state secrecy laws more often than ever in history. Entirely bypassing any scrutiny or limitations.

As for the military, yes America should greatly reduce the strength of its standing army, in terms of manpower, equipment, funding, etc. It's been on a wartime footing for over 70 years, and it's time to stop.

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