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Comment by wil421 | Hacker News Reader

No Americans are forcing you to use our services. If you have a problem then don't use them it's that simple. You're able to boycott anything on the Internet.

I'm tired of Anti-American sentiment when your governments are in bed with ours. American companies weren't the only ones sharing data. German and Belgium telecoms were in bed with spy agencies and not just with the Five Eyes. In public Merkle was outraged but her spy agency was just as much to blame.

This is a global problem not just a U.S. and EU one.

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I don't see any anti-American sentiment in the OP's message. He's just making an economic argument that may or may not be correct.

>kick out the Americans!

Anytime someone wants to kick me out I take offense. He's talking about kicking out all American companies and making their own tools as a replacement. How is that not Anti-American?

Protectionism and xenophobia are different things.

Can you explain any of your answers? If it was protectionism why was the US the only country listed?

Because the US is the only country that is relevant in this context. None of the major software or web services in use in Europe come from Russia or Nigeria or Australia so there is nothing for trade protections to protect against.

The majority of the problem is about the US and the NSA.

What about Chinese spying? Or the internet propaganda firms in Russia? The UK arguably has the worst domestic spying in the Western world. Rules need to be made on a global scale similar to the ICBM restrictions during the Cold War.

These are not NSA issues its a global issue. What are the ROE for cyber attacks? There are much deeper issues beside the NSA reading my gmail, which I dont mind.

What I do mind is undermining technologies that are supposed to protect us from 3rd parties (criminals and governments alike).

> What about Chinese spying?

Absolutely a huge concern going forward but right now they don't have anywhere near the reach of the US.

> Or the internet propaganda firms in Russia?

On a completely different scale from the US.

> The UK arguably

Their domestic spying is just as atrocious but internationally they are just tools of the NSA.

When one actor is 10x the size of all other actors combined globally it isn't out of line to put the majority of the scrutiny on them and the companies they have deep influence on.

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