Should We Resist Trump?

[abaris]

Rational fear good, irrational fear bad.

You know, there's one thing sticking in my memory as if written on stone. It was in 1983 when it got my physicals for military service for the second time. I was still going to law school at the time, but decided to change to history later that same year.

The pschologist working there told me he could get me off the hook at a moment's notice. But then he added something that I will never forget: "But you know how it is with data protection. There may be difficulties when you apply for some official position."

That was still in the pen and paper days, so try to imagine how things look now where a simple mouse click is sufficient to look up all the trails any person ever left. Our surveillance systems are largely depending on the intent of the ones having access. That's what I always warned against. As long as there's a largely democratic force in power, it's probably not a problem. But if that ever changes, the tools are already in place. They just need to be used.