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Comment by apsec112 | Hacker News Reader

Spying on other governments is the NSA's job. The problem is when it starts spying on ordinary citizens.

> Spying on other governments is the NSA's job.

Nevertheless, specific instances of spying on allied governments is often irritating to the ally involved, and their citizenry.

US citizens are probably less upset about foreign surveillance by the NSA (even if it is directed at allies), OTOH, US citizens aren't the entire audience for news.

I guess I could be a little more sympathetic if I thought our allies weren't spying on us as well. After all the noise the Germans made about US intelligence services bugging Merkel's phone, it came out that the Germans were doing the same thing to Hillary Clinton when she visited as Secretary of State.

Ally is a strong word. Allies would have honored their agreements and removed their occupation force.

Spying on allied governments is very common and immensely useful. It helps do things like ensure coordination of policy.

It is, however, incredibly bad form to be caught doing so.

Well that's what bothers me too: You have no rights as a non-American person. The NSA could not care less about your privacy.

I'm not a terrorist and yet the NSA can do whatever it wants with me, and that's scary.

Conversely it's quite the opposite. Most of the world would be okay with an American agency spying on Americans. It's the spying on all others part that's controversial.

> The problem is when it starts spying on ordinary citizens.

I'm sure we're all glad to know that those of us not born into the Holy Light of the USA are subhuman scum unworthy or consideration.

You've taken that comment in a most uncharitable way. Please avoid nasty polemics here.

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