And in my way of thinking,it never was about terrorism in the first place, it's about protecting the i%.

When the government says it needs special powers to combat a particular threat, what it really means is that it wants more power, period. And the government never, ever, ever, voluntarily gives its extra power away. They don't want to be fair, they want control.

Terrorism is not new. There is no need for special powers or laws, and there is certainly no need for law enforcement to be given extra powers. We were catching criminals and terrorists many decades ago when there were no smartphones or Internet, by doing proper police work. I still haven't seen one case where cyber spying has enabled the FBI or anyone else to catch a terrorist, in fact many of them have posted to social networks that they would do it and still didn't get caught, so how would more data help?

What they're really looking for here is just power to eliminate dissent. The oligarchs are starting to realize that people are getting pissed, and they're trying to use their money to get more control. Having access to everyone's information allows them to (1) scare people into submission by making them feel they're being watched, and (2) gather as much embarrassing information about politicians as possible so they can be blackmailed into doing their bidding (this is not necessary since most of them are corrupt to the bone and are easily bought, but the embarrassing info gives them an extra layer of control).

This is never going to get any better without a revolution, sadly. None of the people in power will voluntarily give away control to make a fairer system. The only two possible outcomes here are 1984 or bloody revolution, and neither one looks pretty.

Authoritarianism, not just for Russia anymore.

Sad, yet totally unsurprising.