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Personally, I do however have more faith in the secret agencies of western democracies than China. So all things being equal, right now I'd prefer Americans and
by hn3333 7y ago
Personally, I do however have more faith in the secret agencies of western democracies than China. So all things being equal, right now I'd prefer Americans and Germans spied on me.
- DennisP 7y agoI'd rather be an American spied on by American secret agencies, than a citizen of China spied on by China. However, as a citizen and resident of America I'd rather be spied on by China, because it's a lot easier for my own government to make trouble for me.
- whatshisface 7y agoFurther, you are likely to get people to rally against China's spying, whereas a significant fraction of Americans want you to be spied on (because they can't distinguish between the people and their government).
- Areading314 7y agoDont be so sure. Plenty of retribution can be achieved online and unlawfully
- eska 7y agoThe American government is not going to steal your company's secrets and give them to other companies, the Chinese government in fact does.
- siv- 7y agoThe US has also engages in economic espionage.
- janvidar 7y agoIsn't this just a "...but, I have nothing to hide" argument? The values of the regimes in control are transient and ever changing. You might be okay with it right now - but maybe not in the near future.
- taborj 7y agoRights once given away are nearly impossible to get back. All rights, I might add, not just your right to privacy. You may not care about <thing> today but at some point in the future, you may.
- darawk 7y agoNot really. There is an important difference, in my opinion, between covert surveillance conducted for national intelligence purposes, and surveillance conducted for run of the mill police purposes. There is no real way around the fact that national intelligence agencies need to conduct mass surveillance of various kinds. National intelligence is a competitive zero sum game, and if we don't do it, others will, and we'll be at a disadvantage. The same is not true for policing, however. The real danger to citizen rights is when the crossover happens. I'm not worried when the CIA spies on me - i'm worried when the FBI does. I'm worried when the tools of international intelligence get turned to more mundane matters. And I think that is the transition that we have to fight tooth and nail. Fighting the "don't spy on me NSA" battle was lost decades ago, and you were never going to win anyway in any material way. Because even if you could stop the NSA from doing it, every other government in the world would be doing it. What we need to do is fight to keep that surveillance contained within the international intelligence mission, and not let it creep into domestic policing.
- blotter_paper 7y agoIf they wanna spy on us without warrants, they should amend the constitution about it; until then, it's treason.
- hatenberg 7y agoIf someone spied on me, I think it being a government in another country not collaborating with my own and very busy keeping up with their own population seems preferabke
- denzil_correa 7y agoIt’s almost a False Dilemma - you shouldn’t have to choose between the bad and the worse.
- dlsso 7y agoReally? Your local government has far more power over you than China does. I wouldn't be nearly as worried about China unless I was worth stealing from, assassinating, or something like that.
- tiborsaas 7y agoI don't have any trust in any secret agencies :) Their job is literally to deal with all the shady stuff you don't want to see in the news.
- mytailorisrich 7y agoNeither China, Germany, nor the USA care about you enough to spy on you. They only care about what is valuable to protect and advance their geopolitical and commercial interests, which are remarkably similar. Crypto AG was gold because their products were used by governments and perhaps high level business executives.
- sorokod 7y agoIndividuals are not the targets here, states are and their preferences may differ according to the prevailing winds of international politics.