The feds were able to do police work just fine before everyone had a tracking device in their pocket. They'd do just fine if Google would stop storing this data and there was no way to get it.

> And we need to protect ourselves from them.

This isn't rational, this is purely emotional. This could be a statement from a police officer that did see some awful criminals, but that would be filed under being emotionally compromised.

If you look on large scale threats to the general population, this kind of surveillance poses a much bigger risk.

> genuine bad guys exist out there. And we need to protect ourselves from them.

I doubt this is about protecting people or preventing crime. Justice comes after the fact and is all about retribution. Depending on the crime, the damage done by perpetrators can never be undone.

> This is giving up a modicum of privacy in order to make the world safer for everybody.

How far will you go? Would you give up all privacy for safety? What if society's idea of safety doesn't align with yours?

HN does have a lot of fellow libertarians (and leftists) who oppose surveillance states. But you make a good point, that authoritarian violence has always been popular, all throughout history.

It is no surprise that people like you still romanticize the notion of state violence and greater authoritarian power. Fascism is always popular amongst certain types.

This boy crying wolf bullshit of accusing everyone of being a fascist means that when it really happens here no one will believe it.

Is our government getting increasingly Authoritarian and Repressive? Yes. Are we anywhere near fascism? Fucking no

"well he was warning that there was a wolf, but in fact it was just a few wolf cubs. Nobody ever could've foreseen that they'd grow into wolves!