Hacker News Reader

Spying on allies is a time-treasured practice. Countries have no allies, just frenemies.

If it's not part of the mission statement, it's off mission. I don't consent to rogue intelligence agencies at the heart of my government.

It's not "rogue" at all. The NSA's explicit purpose is to do intelligence gathering and analysis on foreign threats. That's its core competency - data mining. If you look at the mission statement, it says its goal is to do intelligence gathering.

It would be rogue if it decided to, say, give crucial information to a foreign country at the expense of the United States.

The NSA is spying on American citizens. It's off mission and thus rogue.

Hm. I don't know. The vibe that I get from talking to the people around me is that spying happens among enemies and prospective enemies. And being downgraded into the prospective enemies category comes with a bit of emotional trauma for us Europeans.

But what does that make us? Are we now the bitter EX of the US?

Spying happens among friends at least as often as among enemies and prospective enemies. Maybe even more so, because it is commonly used for back-channel diplomacy.

No your governments are getting the data as well.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com