> Tell me again why well-off American programmers continue living in that country without the most basic of human rights?
1) If we all abandon ship, who will be left to argue that this is wrong?
2) A number of countries in Europe lack substantial protections for the freedom of expression. This stuff is only known in the US because its extremely difficult to shut people up.
3) A number of countries are as heavily, if not more heavily, invested in using the tools of the state [surveillance, etc] against the domestic population.
4) The simple fact is if the Government [in whatever country] puts you on their list of people to destroy, you will be destroyed 9 times out of 10. There is substantial xenophobia in both the US and Europe that is fueled by a combination of terrorism, wages, immigration, and a "Fuck you, I have mine" mentality. The US may be swinging heavily in one direction at the moment, but many European countries have been as bad in the past.
5) Please list countries which you consider "enlightened" and I'll tear them down to size if that is your desire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/01/opinion/the-french-surveil...
> Mr. Valls, who announced the bill on the day after the deadly attack at the National Bardo Museum in Tunis and as France still reels from the terrorist attacks in Paris in January, has assured the nation that the bill “is not a French Patriot Act,” a comparison to America’s post-9/11 law. But, in a statement on the bill, the Digital Council, which advises the French government about technology’s effects on society, referred specifically to Edward Snowden’s revelations of the extent of United States government surveillance, warning that the bill proposed by Mr. Valls would open the door to similar excesses in France.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/24/france-big-brot...
> The constitutional council made only minor tweaks to the legislation, which human rights and privacy campaigners, as well as the United Nations, have described as paving the way for “very intrusive” surveillance and state-approved eavesdropping and computer-hacking.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/03/french-pa...
> French parliamentary deputies, defying government wishes, have voted in favour of penalising smartphone makers which fail to cooperate in terrorism inquiries, entering a controversy that has pitted the FBI against Apple in the United States.
Similar laws exist in other EU countries.