House of Cards did a good job of showing just a handful of the ways that favors are traded (or power subtly asserted) between the intelligence agencies and politicians.The founding fathers understood this risk and went to great lengths to ensure separation of powers, but the vast majority of 3 letter agencies did not exist back then and thus exist outside of the well-designed structure.

Presumably the spooks have enough on enough politicians from the existing 702 program that they never have to worry about it again. Blackmail, rinse, repeat. Even if not, there is enough black funding floating around the security state that they can do this without Congress.

Those in charge are voting against their own privacy.It feels more like pandering to the &quot;think of the children and&#x2F;or think of the terrorists&quot; crowd rather than politicians gaining more power themselves.

Power is quite difficult to turn down.

This ship sailed long ago. It&#x27;s not coming back.

It&#x27;s sad it takes a rogue chaos-aligned outsider like Trump to do things like not renew Patriot Act provisions (which Trump threatened to veto and let expire). Establishment Democrats and Republicans alike have a raging hard-on for eroding our freedoms and expanding the surveillance state.

How could anybody cite examples when there&#x27;s zero oversight, including going through a special court system?We would have no way of knowing if agents are using this to surveil their exes, dig up dirt on political candidates and sell it, watch people screw in a tesla for fun, dig up blackmail material on politicians to make sure the next version passes, etc.We&#x27;re just left with the blanket question &quot;Do you trust us to hold ourselves back?&quot; And I think that&#x27;s where people who know the historical record answer &quot;No&quot;, from both parties.

Given all of those pearl clutching adjectives used by the EFF in the article, it should be trivial that catalog a litany of the great injustices that have occurred. There’s Trump’s Russia-buddy Carter Page, and …When the extremists on both sides oppose something - it’s probably a good idea.

U.S. Senate and Biden Shamefully Renew and Expand FISA Section 702