Risk of Dude

Yes, I do expect the next regime to broaden the surveillance state that Snowden began revealing in 2013 [eff.org]. I expect more massive unauthorized data gathering, more overzealous eavesdropping on journalists, more back-doors built into networking gear and smart devices and encryption protocols, more arm twisting of Internet providers, more government activity unnecessarily classified as secret, weaker oversight of domestic spying programs.

I expect this because the current pres didn’t keep his promise to dismantle the surveillance state: he sank the FOIA Oversight Act of 2014 [vice.com], a reasonable bill allowing journalists, historians and the public to access government records; more FOIA requests were denied by the Obama administration than any previous [pbs.org]; he made it easier for the FBI to spy on journalists [theintercept.com]; in 2011, he extended the Patriot Act, authorizing continued warrantless data collection, roving wiretaps, collection of business records; in 2015, he renewed Patriot Act sections sanctioning clandestine NSA surveillance; and good old Guantanamo Bay prison remains open, for incarceration without due process of law.

The pres-elect inherits a culture of sanctioned nontransparency and inaccountability. It's reasonable to expect the domestic surveillance apparatus to grow more insidious, omnipotent, threatening.

Regarding trust and surveillance and the new guy, I take my cue from the New Yorkers I know professionally and personally. Hard workers. Not particularly sensitive. Most of them competitive, opportunistic capitalists. Most succeeded without the benefit of daddy money.

They do not forget that he misrepresented on 911. They remember he said he lost “hundreds of friends” in 911. They also remember that no one saw him at a 911 memorial service [thedailybeast.com]. They remember him claiming to make large personal donations to not-for-profit groups that provided aid to survivors, rescue workers, families of cops and firemen who died trying to save others. They also remember that the IRS has no record of a donation(s) [thesmokinggun.com]. They remember him promoting, on TV, a bogus rumor that thousands of people, “mostly Arabs,” were seen cheering the twin towers’ collapse from New Jersey [politifact.com]. They don’t forgive a fear mongerer trolling 911 to pit Americans against Americans. They set the trust level on the new guy to zero long ago.

However you feel about the election result, practice offensive security. Actively protect your privacy. Be determined to not be tracked and surveiled: Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Surveillance Self-Defense: tips, tools, techniques.