Personal Privacy Is Only One of the Costs of NSA Surveillance

Politicians in the United States have not considered the economic ramifications of intrusive National Security Agency surveillance, bulk collection of data stored for future examination and a cavalier attitude that security fears trump privacy protections. Exposure of the surveillance capabilities have “had a profound impact on the economy, the security of the internet and the credibility of the U.S. government’s leadership when it comes to online governance,” reports Kim Zetter for Wired. With reports that the government influenced hardware and software designs, weakening encryption and allowing NSA easy entry into devices, other countries no longer trust US technology or electronics. Fast-growing economies like Brazil and Germany take no chances, avoiding bulk orders of US products, not just technology investments or data storage, but for defense, aviation and other contracts. The US lost moral standing to criticize countries like China and Iran that engage in heavy surveillance, and other countries no longer trust the United States to control governance of the internet. – YaleGlobal