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So the NSA has basically destroyed a business sector where the US had leadership. It may not be an immediate impact but this will clearly have an impact on US s

So the NSA has basically destroyed a business sector where the US had leadership. It may not be an immediate impact but this will clearly have an impact on US sellers of security products. Why would anyone trust one of them going forward? They won't. It'll take time. But I expect this sector to crash over the next twelve months, at least internationally at first.

hobb0001 13y ago
> Why would anyone trust one of them going forward? The same reason people trust the Dollar as a reserve currency. Yeah, it sucks, but better than any of the alternatives. Fortunately, there exist open-source/public-domain alternatives for security products. (Doesn't mean that contributors can't be coerced with the equivalent of a Nation Security Letter, though.)
- samstave 13y ago
  The only reason people trust the dollar is because if you refuse the dollar, the US military shows up and kills you. How long until we find out that the "humanitarian aide" so heavily pushed WRT Syria, is an IMF debt loan requiring a central bank and fealty to the US dollar is the primary reason for the opportunity war being sought.
vincie 13y ago
Somehow, I think foreign organisations have always known or at least suspected and taken appropriate measures to guard against NSA/GHCB/Echelon/ASIO whatever evesdropping. Even terrorist organisations. Its just the you and me everyday saps that have just found out. And there's not much we can do about it.
- jcoder 13y ago
  Considering what we've learned, anyone's definition of "appropriate measures" has probably changed.
- bandushrew 13y ago
  I dont think so. I was talking to a potential client 2 days ago, they provide SaaS to a number of clients, and up until now this has always included data storage. One of the projects we discussed involved, for a specific customer, moving data storage off the current (US based) server and onto their customer's servers in their own country. Anecdotal, but still I am really small fish on the far edge of the world, I cannot imagine the reaction where the bigger fish are swimming. The difference between 'suspected that our confidential data may be compromised by a third party if you believe all the conspiracy theories' and 'know absolutely that our confidential data is being compromised by a third party as we speak' turns out to be pretty big, and worth a lot to international companies who value the commercial value of their private data.

hobb0001 13y ago

> Why would anyone trust one of them going forward? The same reason people trust the Dollar as a reserve currency. Yeah, it sucks, but better than any of the alternatives. Fortunately, there exist open-source/public-domain alternatives for security products. (Doesn't mean that contributors can't be coerced with the equivalent of a Nation Security Letter, though.)

samstave 13y ago
The only reason people trust the dollar is because if you refuse the dollar, the US military shows up and kills you. How long until we find out that the "humanitarian aide" so heavily pushed WRT Syria, is an IMF debt loan requiring a central bank and fealty to the US dollar is the primary reason for the opportunity war being sought.

vincie 13y ago

Somehow, I think foreign organisations have always known or at least suspected and taken appropriate measures to guard against NSA/GHCB/Echelon/ASIO whatever evesdropping. Even terrorist organisations. Its just the you and me everyday saps that have just found out. And there's not much we can do about it.

jcoder 13y ago
Considering what we've learned, anyone's definition of "appropriate measures" has probably changed.
bandushrew 13y ago
I dont think so. I was talking to a potential client 2 days ago, they provide SaaS to a number of clients, and up until now this has always included data storage. One of the projects we discussed involved, for a specific customer, moving data storage off the current (US based) server and onto their customer's servers in their own country. Anecdotal, but still I am really small fish on the far edge of the world, I cannot imagine the reaction where the bigger fish are swimming. The difference between 'suspected that our confidential data may be compromised by a third party if you believe all the conspiracy theories' and 'know absolutely that our confidential data is being compromised by a third party as we speak' turns out to be pretty big, and worth a lot to international companies who value the commercial value of their private data.