> If the tools are there, they will be used for evil.

I use a stronger (more specific) form of that heuristic that seems to hold up well in practice:

If something evil is within technological possibility, and there is economic gain to be had from doing it, someone will end up doing it.

(Note, by "within technological possibility" I don't mean "there are COTS tools available for doing that", but closer to "physics doesn't prohibit it, and we have a good grasp on how it could be done in theory".)

I actually first figured out this phrasing of my intuition during Snowden revelations, to explain to myself why my initial reaction was a complete lack of surprise.

2016 answered that question.

The issue far predates 2016. The NSA and the mass-surveillance apparatus has been around far longer, with massive bipartisan support.

That sounds like conspiracy NWO kinds of things, but then again maybe there was a kernel of truth to that. It seems since Kennedy intelligence apparatuses have taken preeminence, perhaps somewhat necessarily though the results seem worse than the alternative of them not being there (Gulf II).