Speaking as a foreigner living in the US, anecodtally I find the presumption of guilt built into the US system to be incredibly disturbing. Example: I have to

Speaking as a foreigner living in the US, anecodtally I find the presumption of guilt built into the US system to be incredibly disturbing. Example: I have to disclose, every year, all foreign accounts I have or have an interest in or have signatory authority over. All in the name of fighting "terrorism". What happens if I forget a retirement account? I can be charged 300% of its balance and be criminally prosecuted. US residents and citizens can live and work overseas, have not been in the US for 20+ years and still be required to file the same report and additionally they need to still file US tax returns. No other Western country I know of does this. Immigration and visa issues have been frequently covered here. The same "atmospherics' apply. Eric Schmidt was once lambasted and misquoted over his comments on privacy [1] > If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. which is further clarified with: > But if you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines, including Google, do retain this information for some time. And [...] we're all subject, in the US, to the Patriot Act, and it is possible that that information could be made available to the authorities. That there's the point. Any US company you use is subject to such "administrative subpoenas". All of the hand-wringing around privacy is, at least to some degree, a distraction from the very real issue that the government can get what you're doing at any time with little to no justification. Like it or not, US companies need to comply with US law no matter how screwed up it is. If you want to jump up and down about privacy, you should be jumping up and down about that. They hysteria over terrorism, child pornography, drugs and money laundering has been used to erode due process and judicial oversight. You can be detained without cause, have your records seized because some official believes it'll help an investigation and have your assets seized at the behest of the content industry and other interests that have bought and paid for the American government (eg Kim Dotcom and Megaupload). Thing is, witht he ratchet effect I really don't know how you turn this around. Revolution seems to be the historical agent that wipes the slate clean every so often. That seems unlikely with a complacent and apathetic populace. [1]: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/07/google-ceo-on-privacy-if_n_383105.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/07/google-ceo-on-priva...