Digital privacy is an illusion at this point. Our chips are backdoored, our fiber backbones are tapped, our VPNs are compromised, our forums are honeypots.

I think the benefits of increased government regulation on digital privacy outweigh the potential abuses at this point. What more is there for the government to see? They have everything and more.

So you want to give the same government who is abusing power even more power?

Its not a question of abuse of power anymore. The PATRIOT Act has already given them unlimited power with no checks. Might as well have them use some of their power for something that benefits consumers.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to start trying to take away power from the government then?

It's a good case for reducing our defense budget, but if we get rid of our government then we no longer have a way to regulate the market. If we had better consumer protections then this wouldn't be a problem (surprise surprise - we don't).

The linked article wasn’t about defense. It was about state and local police invading privacy.

The patriot act expired in 2020.