There has been a lot of talk about “mass surveillance reform” in the United States recently. I won’t rehash it here because you can search Google just as well as I can. Here’s what surprises me this morning, though: apparently some in the “pro-mass-surveillance crowd” feel the recent “hack” of OPM justifies the need to authorize the mass surveillance powers of the federal government.
Let me see if I have this straight . . . these people want to grant one or more federal agencies the authority to gather and retain massive quantities of information about the United States citizenry. In order for that information to be useful, it must be stored somewhere. That means you’re creating an attractive, ginormous, likely centralized target for these would-be “hackers” in the future.
Here’s my two cents– let’s not do that, please. The risks outweigh the value and convenience.