4 ms·

I'm a bit of a special case--I'm an American military brat. I was born in the US but lived overseas before I could form a memory until I was a teenager. I, too

I'm a bit of a special case--I'm an American military brat. I was born in the US but lived overseas before I could form a memory until I was a teenager. I, too, had dreams of America being a beacon of progress and freedom. It was my nominal homeland but one I'd never experienced. I was proud of it and loved that other nations looked up to us. But now that dream is dead. We're perfecting the surveillance state I was told would be impossible. Now I look at Europe, and while I disagree with a great deal of its economic policies, I wonder if the grass just might be greener on the other side.

justaman 10y ago
The dream is inside you. Dont let the government kill it.
rayiner 10y ago
Well not in the U.K. Not Germany: http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/06/22/194299389/Privacy-In-Germany http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/06/22/194299389/P.... Which European countries have less domestic surveillance than the US?
- mmjaa 10y ago
  Austria.
  - patrickk 10y ago
    Ireland too. We (essentially) don't have a military, let alone a budget line item for US-style mass surveillance projects. We're non-NATO, non-five eyes (or it's derivatives) and have a strong mechanism in place to preserve our neutrality (see "triple lock"[1]). Being in the EU allowed this[2] landmark case to happen, which forced the issue of US companies complying with EU privacy protections. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_neutrality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_neutrality [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13499096 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13499096
- ugos 10y ago
  Switzerland (though it's not really a EU member) had a "votation" where people decided to expand some surveillance power, ProtonMail blog post about it : https://protonmail.com/blog/swiss-surveillance-law/ https://protonmail.com/blog/swiss-surveillance-law/ . Yet I think Switzerland is still not too bad in terms of privacy but for how long...

justaman 10y ago

The dream is inside you. Dont let the government kill it.

rayiner 10y ago

Well not in the U.K. Not Germany: http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/06/22/194299389/Privacy-In-Germany http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/06/22/194299389/P.... Which European countries have less domestic surveillance than the US?

mmjaa 10y ago
Austria.
- patrickk 10y ago
  Ireland too. We (essentially) don't have a military, let alone a budget line item for US-style mass surveillance projects. We're non-NATO, non-five eyes (or it's derivatives) and have a strong mechanism in place to preserve our neutrality (see "triple lock"[1]). Being in the EU allowed this[2] landmark case to happen, which forced the issue of US companies complying with EU privacy protections. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_neutrality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_neutrality [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13499096 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13499096
ugos 10y ago
Switzerland (though it's not really a EU member) had a "votation" where people decided to expand some surveillance power, ProtonMail blog post about it : https://protonmail.com/blog/swiss-surveillance-law/ https://protonmail.com/blog/swiss-surveillance-law/ . Yet I think Switzerland is still not too bad in terms of privacy but for how long...