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Comment by devishard | Hacker News Reader

Why is this surprising to anyone?

It's time to realize that our own law enforcement is a greater threat to us than terrorists abroad. This behavior needs to be made illegal.

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This comment is on every post where something like this is revealed.

Yes, we "all" have known that parallel reconstruction has been going on. Except for the skeptics who require hard evidence of its occurrence. Well, now we have evidence.

This isn't about the practice being surprising. It's about the practice finally being documented.

It hasn't been "finally" documented, the documentation has been out for almost three years.

Yep.

"Why is this surprising?" There are reasons to discuss it other than surprise. Better evidence may allow for official reactions, inquiries, or prosecutions.

"Is anyone so naive that..." Yes, we weep for our lost innocence. Now we see that your jaded nihilism was justified all along. Forgive us.

"Of course, nobody really cares..." Back that up with stats. Are you sure nobody cares? Are you sure that is a permanent state of affairs? If you're also asking "Why is anyone surprised?" that's acknowledging we've got a delta in collective interest here, so the complaint is self-canceling. And how many people's attention is needed? A very vocal and effective 5% of the population can get a lot done.

"Of course, nobody can do anything..." Despite various pronouncements of the end of history, things continue to happen.

Just to your last point, history ends for most of us when we expire. It is hard for me to see, possibly halfway through my life, when or how this course corrects, considering the current balance of money and power.

I have yet to encounter a person who doesn't keep a pulse on tech / security and also believes parallel construction exists. 95% of Snowden revelations are still in conspiracy theory territory and aren't even Snopes worthy to most.

It is already illegal. This behavior needs to be punished.

> “This is the first time I have seen language this explicit in an FBI non-disclosure agreement,” Nate Wessler, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project...

Surprising, no. Surprising to see it in writing from the FBI? Yeah, a little.

The unfortunate fact is that the FBI doesn't mind putting it in writing because any vestige of justice on our legal system has been swept away. Agents of the government understand that they are completely above the law, so much so that they don't even bother going through the motions anymore to pretend otherwise.

OK, so given that the general populous is now starting to acknowledge this abuse of power... how do we fix it? All three branches of governance are falling outside the public's control and people no longer vote with a long-term and open mind. How do we get people to step down the vitriol and work with each other towards the common good?

You don't and you can't. You accept it and adjust behavior accordingly.

The general populace isn't starting to acknowledge the abuse. Some niches are, though, and that's why we even are able to talk about parallel construction in this much detail. It still requires people to read court transcripts and find these nuggets of information about law enforcement practices and policies, after which they tell whoever is listening (typically on Twitter in my experience).

> law enforcement a greater threat > made illegal

See a problem here?

It's already illegal by any sane interpretation of the law.

What does it even mean to make law enforcement behavior "illegal"? Who would enforce it? Obviously those in charge are either happy with it as it is or feel powerless to stop it.

It is illegal.

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