cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/42455984
FBI controversial smartphone sting operation led to nearly 30 arrests in Estonia
I do not care if they caught a few dozen criminals in Estonia, this whole thing is a privacy nightmare. The FBI basically turned themselves into a hardware manufacturer just to bypass encryption and spy on everyone. It is mass surveillance, plain and simple.
The fact that they just monitored 12,000 people without concrete suspicion for each individual is insane. Today it is cartels, but tomorrow it is whatever group the government decides is a threat. If you allow the state to build the tools for total surveillance, they are going to use them on more than just “bad guys” eventually. We should be terrified of this level of overreach, not celebrating it as some brilliant operation. It is a massive violation of the presumption of innocence.
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Yo FBI, why don’t you worry about the criminals in your own country violating the constitution every day instead of some people in fucking Estonia.
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
The FBI agents that would be willing to something probably already got purged…
HyperfocusSurfer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 hours ago
Because they’d have to arrest like every single FBI executive ever, and going after their own is generally frowned upon in such institutions.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 16 hours ago
Valid question, but this was several countries working together, at least eventually. It’s not like the FBI gets to unilaterally arrest people in European countries. They provide the evidence to the local police.
It also isn’t a new thing, the actual surveillance part was during Trump 1 and I think Biden.
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works 14 hours ago
That wasn’t a question. Its like when you tell someone “why don’t you go fuck yourself,” you’re not wondering why they’re not fucking themselves. You’re telling them to go fuck themselves. (Not telling you to go fuck yourself btw, just the most succinct example I could think of, lol) Point being, the FBI has bigger fish to fry than worrying about crime in another goddamn country. The biggest criminal grift is happening in US history right now and they’re worrying about fucking Estonia.