
US Senator says wireless carriers are helping Trump build 'surveillance state' - waderosstheman
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/us-senator-says-wireless-carriers-helping-trump-build-surveillance-state
======
corodra
But like... haven't they been doing this for like... ever? There was an
article on hn around a year or two ago about this. Mostly Snowden brought more
light on this. I think the article mentioned bell south since the 50s or 60s.

So I get that a lot of people don't like trump, but don't give him credit for
everything. Besides, wasn't it Obama that still authorized the whole
surveillance issues Snowden sent the world memos about?

~~~
brokenmachine
I'm not American but Trump's been in for 2/1/2 years now. Isn't it getting a
bit old now to still be blaming Obama? Is America great again yet?

If Trump was against it, he would be changing it, just like your border
policies, trade agreements, international relations and everything else he's
busy "modifying".

~~~
corodra
Not what I said.

This surveillance state dates back way before Obama. The thing is, it was
brought to light during his era and he still approved it along with widened
it.

Point is, don't give trump sole credit for something that's been going on for
50+ years before him. The article acts like there was no surveillance state
before him.

------
andrerm
> Section 215 of the Patriot Act will expire at the end of this year unless
> the Senate votes to re-authorize it.

> "As sure as night follows day, the Senate will wait until very last minute,
> when you all have your Christmas trees up," he said. "I am goign to push
> very hard to see if we can put a stake in this program and kill it once and
> for all."

> But to do that, Wyden said, he needs citizens to write, email and call their
> senators and ask them to not renew Section 215.

Will citizens do something about it? I don't think so but we'll see. I really
hope to be proven wrong.

------
heroprotagonist
The sale of location data, and the utter insecurity of APIs (eg, no
enforcement of consent requirements, simply passing the paper trail obligation
them through several layers of corporate agreement) really aught to be
considered a national security issue at this point.

With enough money, an organization can monitor the movements of political
opponents. Not just the politician, but their entire staff. This can fuel
further vectors of attack in turn.

------
equalunique
Obvously this trend isn't unique to Trump, but if politicization is what gets
people to pay attention to privacy issues, then go ahead.

------
captainredbeard
The surveillance state has existed for a long time...

------
moltensodium
The telecom companies have been semi-nationalized since 2001. This isn't new
to Trump. The one company that tried to fight getting completely absorbed into
the national security apparatus (Qwest/Joseph Nacchio) doesn't exist anymore.
They are all part of the state now.

