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Comment by zippoxer | Hacker News Reader

I never got why HN are angry at NSA since they spy on Americans. Spying on me (non-American) is okay, but spying on an American is wrong?

I feel just as violated as any American by the thought of NSA spying me.

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What astonishes me the most is the absolute double standards US government has on this issue. you are US government and it is perfectly fine spying and collecting data from people and organizations outside US jurisdiction. You are a person outside US jurisdiction and have an unauthorized look on US government data, and US government tries to get you extradicted to US and to face charges?!?[1] That just makes morally zero sense to me.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauri_Love

It's the same with drone strikes. If you look at the recent controversies about the drone program in the US, it's all about how Obama authorized drone strikes on an American. Illegally assassinating non Americans without any form of trial or due process is perfectly fine.

1. An American is anyone living in America, (?citizen or not?).

2. A US entity is tasked with info collection on the rest of the world (and is good at it).

3. US entities funded by the US have rules that prevent them from spying on those who fund them.

Completely understandable and predictable.

We are discussing morality and ethics here. Almost all such scenarios can be explained and accounted for by the unsymmetrical distribution of power, including that of the spying of US agencies on American citizens. Indeed, it is completely understandable and predictable given the way the US government is structured. Governments(or any institutions for that matter) tend to act in their own self interest first and foremost, not of their citizens.

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