A government gets to override the law by executive order. Maybe even in secret. A government is only beholden to a constitution, and sometimes not even that. I

A government gets to override the law by executive order. Maybe even in secret. A government is only beholden to a constitution, and sometimes not even that. I think this is why we are hearing of an alliance to stop payments. It at least provides a disincentive to caving in and making a payment, even if that disincentive is in practical terms minor political points. I suspect an alliance of western countries may happen. When the criminals are based in Russia, China and North Korea, we can expect those countries to already have a copy of all the leaked data, and paying ransoms is essentially just funding enemy spy agencies.