Cyber Security Takes on New Urgency for Groups Targeted by Trump

With a few weeks to go until Donald Trump's inauguration as president, activists from the grassroots to large organizations like the ACLU are working to fortify their digital platforms against potential government intrusions. Many fear that a Trump presidency will usher in an age of greater government surveillance and the suppression of civil rights. "We can't trust Trump with the NSA," argued John Napier Tye, who served in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor from 2011 to 2014. "There are simply not enough safeguards in place to protect Americans from our own National Security Agency." Others point out that while Americans' privacy has been eroded under past presidents, Trump may push the state surveillance apparatus to new limits. And this is especially concerning to historically marginalized communities, as technology and civil rights analyst Logan Koepke warned, saying, "People of color, activists, and community organizers disproportionately are targets of the surveillance state."