It's not that it's new but if it expanded under the Obama administration we can be sure it will expand even more with Trump. Possibly at an even higher pace, specially since he has congress on his side.
This article is clickbait bullshit. It attacks the (then unconfirmed POETUS, now POTUS) for absolutely no reason at all. The remainder of the article in no way deals with the threats from government surveillance, or how the slew of adjectives they had flung at President Trump, much like a monkey flinging it's feces at its caretakers, had anything to do with being under surveillance past some poorly lubricated liberal impetus to disrupt that with which they disagree.
Let's be serious for a moment, you are not going to get past government surveillance with those tips. They may be mildly annoying, but that's it. If you have full disk encryption enabled, it doesn't stop your phone being remotely attacked and having software implanted to monitor you. Tracking needn't happen with bugs when the cell towers get your GPS location over the signaling channel. Meager attempts at secrecy using closed source applications or those delivered in binary form are useless. It is a shame to see such crap be peddled as a shameless reason to make a weak political statement.
Furthermore, the computer defense tips are largely useless. Full disk encryption? Go ahead and make your computer slower. Unless you keep your computer on you at all times, it is genuinely useless. Nothing stops me from putting a drive twice the size in your computer with a copy of your encrypted data, copying your password prompt, using it to decrypt your actual files, showing "installing updates" on your screen for a little while, copying over your configuration to the new OS, and showing you everything you have as if it's yours. Later, I'll come pick up your computer and have unencrypted data. Full disk encryption only helps if you have the computer on you at all times.
Suggesting that Qubes OS is in any way going to stop nation state surveillance is just as laughable an idea. It's a good start, but it won't stop someone hacking your computer when you aren't around. Doesn't stop the Intel ME. DMA attacks will give you access to the hypervisor and the entire set of VMs. USB 3.1 debugging of Intel processors? No problem.
Want some actual solutions to these problems?
Neo900 phone
OsmocomBB baseband
OpenRISC and associated processors
LibreBOOT firmware/BIOS
GPL-GPU video cards
OpenFWWF WiFi firmware
Linux/*BSD operating systems
GPG/PGP encryption and tools
Bitcoin cryptocurrency
OTR message encryption
Pidgin IM client
Firefox open source browser
Thunderbird mail client
OpenVPN secure tunnel software
Contribute to these projects in any way, and you will be fighting surveillance much more effectively. You don't need to be a computer engineer or programmer to do this. Help with documentation, do some graphics design, make tutorials on how to use them, donate money, help them manage resources, make some suggestions, go to meetings, and spread the word about them. And don't use them to get out your political views. The Snowden revelations came out under President Obama's second term, and I don't remember the massive revolt and protests. Do you? Room 641A under Bush. Remember those protests? CARNIVORE and the DMCA under Clinton? The CFAA under Reagan? Yeah, so let's stop making this political and get back to making secure hardware and software.
