<story><title>Obama Expands Surveillance Powers on His Way Out</title><url>https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/01/obama-expands-surveillance-powers-his-way-out</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>benmcnelly</author><text>This is a bad time to be a liberal. Let me explain.&lt;p&gt;On nearly the eve of handing over the country to Trump, Obama is laying the groundwork for policy that has huge potential to be abused. I am confused, because if anything you would think he would do the opposite, but I refuse to believe it was done to give him a noose to hang himself, but why?&lt;p&gt;Why is it a bad time to be a liberal? Because there is a good chance you will disagree with a lot of upcoming policy. But with this in place, criticizing your government or standing against tyranny could make you a target, one that is now easier than ever to trudge through an archive of your online life for anything remotely wrong, and prosecute you, retroactively, for it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jdpedrie</author><text>This is nothing new. Those on the right have felt the same squeeze you&amp;#x27;re describing over the Obama years in the form of politically targeted pressure from the IRS.&lt;p&gt;The lesson &amp;#x2F;should&amp;#x2F; be that when the government is powerful enough to use against your political enemies, it&amp;#x27;s powerful enough to be used against you. Unfortunately, the allure of what you can do with that power next time you run the show seems strong enough to override a lot of rational concerns.</text></comment>
<story><title>Obama Expands Surveillance Powers on His Way Out</title><url>https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/01/obama-expands-surveillance-powers-his-way-out</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>benmcnelly</author><text>This is a bad time to be a liberal. Let me explain.&lt;p&gt;On nearly the eve of handing over the country to Trump, Obama is laying the groundwork for policy that has huge potential to be abused. I am confused, because if anything you would think he would do the opposite, but I refuse to believe it was done to give him a noose to hang himself, but why?&lt;p&gt;Why is it a bad time to be a liberal? Because there is a good chance you will disagree with a lot of upcoming policy. But with this in place, criticizing your government or standing against tyranny could make you a target, one that is now easier than ever to trudge through an archive of your online life for anything remotely wrong, and prosecute you, retroactively, for it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>piffey</author><text>This is a thought exercise, not my opinion as it&amp;#x27;s too complex&amp;#x2F;conspiracy theory-ish and more the plot of a Tom Clancy novel, but what if Obama is expanding the power and handing the reins over to intelligence groups that Trump has sidelined? The NSA&amp;#x2F;CIA are fantastic at collapsing and running foreign governments -- why not ours?</text></comment>