But perhaps unlike the Syrians, they have a black list budget that could afford plenty of backup storage. Of course some people are more paranoid than others, some more trusting of the government, but knowing what we know now, I’m betting that a significant portion of the population wouldn’t believe that there was no super-secret backup facility, or that the back-doors in hardware and software were well and truly closed to prevent a relapse.
Sadly, I think they’re in the position of having to prove a negative. I don’t envy them that, but that’s the hole I think they’ve dug for themselves.
I said that Europe’s desire to spy on their own citizens make them vulnerable to Americans spying on them. I guess it is like suggesting a wife shouldn’t stay in an abusive relationship with her husband just because she likes to beat the shit out of her kids.
Europe can’t control what the US does. They can control what they do. They can harden their own Internet (and likely by extension the rest of the world’s) against spying, or they can continue to ask 'MURICA to politely stop. The consequence of a 'MURICA resistant internet is one that is very hard to secretly spy on for everyone.
Encryption works. The US can crack weak encryption slowly. It can’t crack strong encryption in any reasonable amount of time, and it sure a shit can’t crack all the strong encryption at once. Encrypt the Internet with open source and open standards, and the game is over. The consequence of this is that spying gets a lot harder for everyone. Victim blaming or not, Europe has the power to shut this shit down, and I think that they should.
I’m puzzled as to why you keep mentioning “Europe’s desire to spy on their own citizens” as though this was something unique to European government. Especially puzzling when you consider that this present clusterfuck is down to the USA’s desire to spy on its own citizens as much as it wants to spy on the rest of the world, friend and foe alike.
You may as well say that America’s desire to spy on its own citizens is the reason that America hasn’t shut down the NSA as an illegal organisation already, stormed the NSA’s gates, rearranged all their bytes into ascending numerical order and sent the supercomputers off to universities and NASA to do something useful and harmless.
This is really just an embarrassment for the German security services, for allowing Merkel to be spied on. I don’t approve of NSA spying, but it’s predictable that other countries (China, Russia, etc.) are going to want to spy on the EU leadership and decision making process. If the NSA is passing commercial information on to US businesses, (eg. NSA is helping Boeing win contracts against Airbus) that’s a real scandal. It’s bad faith to use an embassy to flagrantly break the laws of a host country, but US diplomats famously ignore parking tickets in London (they have over £7 million in unpaid tickets) so extending that to spying on the host nation is in keeping.
I’m not surprised that the NSA was tasked with spying on Merkel. The fact they could achieve it is an embarrassment for the Germans and for Europe only. Europe easily has the technological capability and reserves to create an surveillance-proof communication system to protect valuable communications. They should just invest prudently in improving their protocols.
I am utterly baffled as to how you consider my statements to imply it is something unique to Europe. Let me spell this out really clearly for you. I am an American citizen. I am pissed, angry, and revile the spying happening on American citizens. It is an absolute violation of our constitution. I personally am working my damndest to stop it as much as any one person can. In my fantasy land, Europe realizes that 'MURICA spying on Europeans is a bad thing, and Europe institutes strong encryption across their 'tubes to secure themselves. As a selfish ass American, this translates into secure intertubes for me. I can’t think of a better defense against NSA spying than my data existing in a Europe that values privacy over spying. I want Europe to take my data and money.
America’s desire to spy on its own citizens is the reason that America hasn’t shut down the NSA as an illegal organisation already, stormed the NSA’s gates, rearranged all their bytes into ascending numerical order and sent the supercomputers off to universities and NASA to do something useful and harmless.
Oh look, I said it. I agree with it completely.
The difference is that American politicians see the spying as a boon to them. Europe is in a different position. Europe gets exactly nothing from the US spying on them. American politicians are not pissed to learn that we have 0wn3d the shit out of the rest of the world. Europe on the other hand SHOULD be pissed off that they are the victims and do something about it other than bitch and moan and ask the US politely to stop. Fucking defend yourself. The price of defense is that the European surveillance state will have to shut down. Fucking pay it, and let me give you my data and money.
The best defense an American citizen has against mass warrantless spying by an American State that would give the Stasi a hard on, is a Europe that values their own defense and sovereignty over spying on their own citizens.
I am happily working my end here, but Europe needs to do something other than cry about being the victim. Don’t let your politicians use this as something the distract you from European problems. If your politician cite this as a problem, demand that they fucking do something about it, with that something being the hardening of the European Internet. Any other response is a domestic sideshow.
