Hacker News Reader

Comment by sid6376 | Hacker News Reader

It is certainly more difficult for US and other powerful countries to enforce its diktat on certain countries (like those in Europe). They are more powerful in a geo-political sense and also have a deep-seated fear of government surveillance.

View on HN

You're simply trading one governments surveillance for another. The US isn't the only government conducting advanced surveillance.

Being based in the US is a dealbreaker because of US Surveillance.

Being based in the Canada is a dealbreaker because of Canadian/US/UK/Austrailain/New Zealand Surveillance.

Being based in the France is a dealbreaker because of French Surveillance.

Being based in the Germany is a dealbreaker because of German Surveillance.

Being based in the Japan is a dealbreaker because of Japanese Surveillance.

Being based in the Austrailia is a dealbreaker because of Canadian/US/UK/Austrailain/New Zealand Surveillance.

Being based in the Spain is a dealbreaker because of Spanish Surveillance.

The question is again, where exactly is government survailence not a deal breaker? Every country that is capable of it is doing it, and every country that is not capable has agreements with those that do.

Also consider corporate 'surveillance'. Google tracks more than the surveillance state asks from them. Same with Facebook. And that's just so our ads can be targeted. But folks flock to those platforms. Because they can do business there. People are not as picky as we'd like to think.

US surveillance isn't limited to the US; the NSA spies on everything, its just that it's spying within the US is controversial given that it's legal mission is foreign signals intelligence, and the US has statutory and Constitutional limits on domestic government surveillance which are arguably violated by the NSA's domestic surveillance. NSA engaging in universal and total foreign surveillance is far less controversial in the US, but it would be a mistake to conflate the lack of controversy with a lack of NSA activity.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com