Comment by tootie

No. My point is governments will _repress_ people regardless of their surveillance capabilities. The Gestapo didn't need to monitor WhatsApp to detain disloyal citizens without trial. On the flip side, there are billion dollar corporations who exist solely to shit on the leaders of their countries as loudly as possible with no repercussions. I'm not saying surveillance is great and we just blindly accept it, but I am saying the cost of heightened surveillance is a lot lower than the HN crowd seem to think it is. When you're balancing the scale of public safety against increased surveillance it's not a simple equation.