I know that it's no secret that presidents like Nixon used the FBI as his own Pinkerton agency and that the FBI itself was a haphazardly constructed agency for Hoover's shady shit, but Trump always seems to take it to another petty level that always reflects his own projected fears.

A tax audit on most normal people would cause some anxiety, but as long as they bothered to file in the last couple years and DIDN'T do anything shady like, say, claiming a charity that never actually gave to charity, they'll be fine. A guy like Trump treats an IRS investigation into his tax claims like we're looking at his entire internet history along with webcam shots of his face for when he spots an Ivanka pic.

Also, it's another example of wasted government resources on petty investigation. The amount of money and labor into auditing a worker on a federal income will never turn a great ROI, like say investigating a Senator or tech mogul

Unfortunately, I feel like Swartz would be spinning for a LOT of things that Web 2.0 turned out to be and propagate. We don't even blink at the idea of personal data being shared across unknown anonymous networks. It's a matter of "whatev's, they're welcome to find out what porn I like".

Like remember when that Will Smith movie "Enemy of the State" came out and although it's way over the top, it was totally on point in principle on how vulnerable we are in networks overseen by anonymous government entities and private companies.

Now we fucking applaud hundred-millionaires becoming billionaires for capitalizing on the internet stew we all threw our goods in for fun research, and internet community