But we now see how the fall out from this scandal will affect us. When I build my next API or service will people around the globe use it? Or will they be skeptical and decide to roll their own or go with an offshore competitor? Very irritating.
I believe this may be very helpful. If enough Europeans stop / limit using Google services, then Google's stock price on Wall Street will see the consequences.
Google has powerful lobbyists on Capitol Hill, and they will use their influence to change the playing field such that they either don't have to cooperate as much, or can be more transparent about the cooperation. Either option, or both, would help polish the tarnish on Google's reputation due to this.
Perhaps this is wishful thinking ... kinda like believing Europeans, Asians, etc will build their own Google-replacement ... but it's small a reason for hope, all the same.
It's not just Google. It's anything running Apple OSes (iPhones/iPads), Microsoft OSes, Google OSes (Android!), gmail users, AWS, any company _hosted_ on AWS, but, most importantly, any US company built _in the future_.
We've now learned that any US-based company can be secretly forced to spy on their users at the behest of the military. And then in a stroke of genius, Obama went on tv to explain that it's not cause for alarm because it only targets foreigners.
Because we have FISA, because we have secret courts, because we have PATRIOT NSLs, because we have gag orders, every single American internet company now has a permanent credibility problem in the global market.
I'd like Obama to explain why any business anywhere has any reason to trust US could services now. Right, they don't. If they're smart they stay the hell away from any US servers.
It's a well known fact that the NSA/CIA are not just hunting for terrorists. Their normal day to day agenda is industrial espionage as well.
I guess spider oak is still ok thanks to client side encryption. Other than that - no thanks.
Much of your offshore traffic may well pass through US-Europe trunks anyway, so any web service will find it difficult or impossible to avoid this problem.
Yes, but as someone who makes IT decisions for an organization outside the US, it's still a factor.
When evaluating services, one factor is "Do they use sound security principles?" Does their API use SSL? How does authentication work? How is my information stored? Etc.
Another factor is "Do I trust them with my data?" This has a lot to do with the company's track record, business model, and of course their location. Where are they? What are the privacy laws like there? What is the level of corruption?
If government agencies (and their subcontractors) can go to my service provider and secretly demand sweeping access to any "foreigners data", without any sort of due process, why would I do business with that company? I think I'd rather go with a company in a country with strong privacy protections, even for non-citizens, and take my chances with best practices for securing data on the wire.
Due process and strong privacy protections are a competitive advantage for a country... The US is royally screwing it's own tech sector with these policies.
Yes so true. People will still be spied and what is truly harmed by this spying revelation is US commerce itself. In a global economy you don't want to be known for being untrustworthy.
But we now see how the fall out from this scandal will affect us. When I build my next API or service will people around the globe use it? Or will they be skeptical and decide to roll their own or go with an offshore competitor? Very irritating.