Aaaand, there we go. Now we're (rightly) afraid to sign petitions. Land of the etc.

Yup. I hesitated despite my strong belief that this is wrong, for fear of the backlash down the road. I can come up with some scenarios where the government could hold this against me. Fuck it. We must stand up for our rights. I signed.

Don't you think you're being a tad bit dramatic?

The trouble is, no-one knows whether this kind of concern is over-dramatised or not any more. The current situation is exactly what the term "chilling effect" was coined for. And the very fact that the risk is even considered plausible by normal, reasonable people demonstrates that there is a problem with the current situation.

This is actually bad news for elected representatives. Having an electorate who are apathetic about an issue is no problem for the politicians. Having an electorate who are vocal about an issue, but who are ultimately not going to do anything practical to back it up, is not much of a problem for the politicians. Having an electorate who are deliberately trying to look apathetic about a problem but who will in some cases change their vote because of it can put a politician out of a job, and because of the culture of silence they might not even see it coming.

I have a job that requires clearance. I signed anyway, with the knowledge that this could, theoretically, cause me to lose my job.

I hesitated though too, thinking "in 5 years, will this have some serious repercusions?" Fuck it, I'm not one to trade standing up for my beliefs for comfort.

You don't think something like this, if known to the government, would make it harder to get security clearance? That's necessary for a lot of government positions, as well as private sector jobs that contract to the government.

Additionally, if you run for office against me and I'm a law-and-order conservative, you can bet your ass I'll be running "djim doesn't want to give law enforcement the tools it needs to stop terrorists" ads if I find out about it.

A possible response for djim:

"We gave law enforcement everything they asked for, and they abused their power. You know how when you give your teenager the keys to your car, and they abuse that by going somewhere they weren't supposed to go? And you take the keys away? Well, that's what we're doing... we're taking the keys away, since they have shown that they can't be trusted with those keys."

If something like that would make it difficult to get a security clearance than guys like Manning and Snowden would never have obtained one.

no. haven't you been paying attention the last few days?

Isn't it lovely how HNers enjoy providing reinforcement to such fear? You guys are in on it, aren't you.

Sad, isn't it?

Very.