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Comment by billyhoffman | Hacker News Reader

I find it odd that Andreessen seemed most upset about effects the disclosures have had on "U.S. technology firms' ability to sell their products overseas," and yet he talks about Snowden.

Andreessen's anger is entirely misplaced and should be directed at the NSA. They are the ones that are intercepting American technology products, like Cisco routers, and modifying them before shipping them overseas. All without (as far as we know) the knowledge or consent of the companies that make the products.

All American technology products are now suspect, in ways they never have been perceived in the past. Not because of the NSA spying on foreign countries, or collecting domestic meta data. But because the NSA is now tampering with American technology products and companies.

The tarnishing of American business has nothing to do with Snowden.

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> I find it odd that Andreessen seemed most upset about effects the disclosures have had

Why? Silicon Valley VCs know exactly what they are building - massive repositories of user information to datamine for the highest bidders.

The NSA does not require exclusive use, is independently funding datamining research, and has subpoenas - so they are a natural early client.

These facts have been plain as day to anybody who thinks about the implications of their technology choices. Most don't, so the services become widely adopted and even quite hip (unfortunately).

Snowden comes along and ignites the media in a way that Binney and Klein hadn't, just as the pendulum is starting to naturally swing towards decentralization. It is now in the public consciousness that perhaps these companies are not to be blindly trusted with the contents of your life.

Of course Andreessen is pissed. The entire business model of modern SV has been illustrated.

Well put!

I'm sadly surprised that there are still so many people willing to work on these things. :(

This is the point. The actions of the NSA have irreparably damaged the reputation of American technology companies, and all Andreessen does is shoot the messenger.

The tarnishing of American business has nothing to do with Snowden.

Snowden will never be a customer of Andreessen's companies' products. The US Government very likely will be.

He doesn't care about the ethics of the situation. He just knows that revenues in other countries for the Valley are going down and that he can't very well bite the hand that feeds the Valley domestically.

I agree with your point, but do you really find it that surprising?

Which part? Andreessen taking his anger out on Snowden or the NSA's tampering? To the latter, yes, yes I do. If for no other reason than the consequences of such tampering are obvious if ever discovered and nothing ever stays secret forever. They made the decision and we can only assume they did it knowing full well what would happen should it ever come to light, leak or not. Would things have been much different if this was discovered 5 years from now? How about 10? Can we assume they would stop tampering with equipment at any point without disclosure?

IMHO no agency that is being funded to fulfill American public interests should be making choices that override, or put at serious risk, the needs of the public just to make their job more efficient/effective. Even if we accept reinterpretations of what public "needs" might be, this was a decision who's risks would be extremely costly should disclosure ever occur and it shouldn't have happened, perhaps even outweighing the benefits (to the public) they offered, which we may never get a straight answer as to what they were.

> Andreessen's anger is entirely misplaced and should be directed at the NSA.

He's not angry about some moral issue, he's angry that revenue is going down.

I get that. But instead of saying "I'm upset with how the NSA's actions are impacting the revenue/growth of our technology sector, which is a major source of new jobs in the US, etc etc" he is talking about he thinks Snowden is a traitor.

This feels like a wasted opportunity.

He isn't making appeals for transparency or discussing policy ideas or legal frameworks where the NSA can continue its mission as an intelligence agency and yet not damage American businesses. Marc Andreessen comes off very badly in this interview.

From his point of view it's not NSA's abuse that caused the problem, but the actual whistle blowing that exposed that abuse. Were it to remain secret there would have been no damage.

I don't condone such an amoral approach, but at least he's honest.

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