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Comment by mrschwabe | Hacker News Reader

Sure, perhaps it could be said then that Go is similar to that of Android. Which is the prime example of one of Google's 'open' projects that has done wonders for its' industry. Yet given the NSA's surveillance scandal and Google's long history of a close & secretive working relationship with the NSA - today perhaps we should be questioning whether or not we are still comfortable using an Android device. Or programming with Go.

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Yet given the NSA's surveillance scandal and Google's long history of a close & secretive working relationship with the NSA

I'd love to hear evidence of this relationship instead of your speculative fear mongering.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/05/google-nsa-secrecy-...

http://www.pcworld.com/article/217550/google_watchdog_white_...

Neither of these articles prove anything like the kind of claims you're making. I'm concerned about PRISM too but I've yet to see any evidence that Google is any more willingly complicit in it than any other US tech giant.

Never understood the kind of people who wont believe obvious things without first seing a smoking gun on the hands of the culprit and/or a written confession.

I guess it's what passes for valid to the politically naive.

Indeed. Put it this way, if you suspect a serial killer has taken residence in your neighborhood - are you going to wait around for a 'smoking gun' before making conscious decisions about your interactions with that individual?

So what's your alternative if every single one of your neighbors is a serial killer?

Like I said, I share your concerns about PRISM but singling out Google seems like losing the forest for a tree when we have abundant evidence that all the US tech giants have been forced to comply with NSA requests.

There's always another town. And likewise, so many alternatives to Google tech - and all solutions provided by the other 'giants'. Besides, this is an industry driven by technology & innovation. If there isn't a solution or an incumbent is dropping the ball - that's opportunity for geeks like us.

Besides that, why give them the benefit of the doubt anyway?

I have no qualms about singling out Google. Of all the 'giants' this is a company that has the most volume, quality, and relevant information on all of us. They need to be held accountable & scrutinized to the highest degree in the handling of said data. The fact that they are the company most active in their business relations & engagements with the intel sector should be ringing alarm bells.

That's a good assessment, I don't disagree this is or that there is even any 'hard proof' but at some point some of us will make a conclusion about things with the information that is available. To play devil's advocate: I have not seen anything to convince me that the Google is not a key component of the NSA's mass surveillance efforts.

And indeed, other tech giants should share the blame for being involved in PRISM - I tend to single-out Google because of their long & documented history in doing business with the NSA and other intelligence agencies like the CIA.

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/17-06-2013/12484...

The answer -- at least for me -- is "yes", as long the "open" component of those projects remains intact.

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