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Comment by Orou | Hacker News Reader

HNers: Are you anticipating any sort of 'pendulum effect' where we over-correct for our present situation in the new Democratic executive and legislature, specifically in the area of surveillance and privacy?

What changes do you expect to have happen in the next year or two in this area? Are you taking any steps regarding your own privacy based on your predictions?

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It doesn't seem they needed any additional surveillance to stop this. Just adequate security staff for a pre-planned rally of very angry people that they already knew about. They plan for this kind of thing all the time. This time, they failed.

I see the most likely initiatives of the new administration to revolve around reining in the powers of the presidency.

No administration ever "reigns in" the powers of the administration. This is always a priority and talking point of the party out of power, regardless of party. As soon as you are in power, you exploit and expand on the precedents set by the previous administration. The only very small exception I can even think of was Trump's one-in, two-out regulation policy [1].

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/waynecrews/2018/10/23/trump-exc...

It makes quite reasonable sense for this administration to distribute the presidential powers to the congress, since they control both anyway, and have proven to be most harmed by an opposition president.

The over-correction will be terrible. The Left has embraced authoritarianism, so this is a grand opportunity for them. They don't want to (nor now do they have to) negotiate or do anything "incremental". They want radical change, and the powers of the state to enforce it (environmental and social justice will be prominent). The idiots who perpetrated 1/6/21 have put us in an awful place.

Feeds into the conspiracy theories that it was all orchestrated by the left. Sets them up perfectly to crack down hard on their opponents.

Maybe not orchestrated, but allowed to escalate and be taken advantage of.

Take a dive when attacked and play the sympathy card.

I love how the issue is "the left does not negotiate" after years where right blocks any proposal from left on principle. And "the Left has embraced authoritarianism" ... right after when right decided that overturning elections is what they are entitled at.

I'm not a nazi, so I'm not going into hiding, if that's what you're asking?

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