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For context, the US population is currently less than 5% of the world. A danger for US companies is that their business will be cut off from 95% of markets, be

by mkempe 13y ago

For context, the US population is currently less than 5% of the world. A danger for US companies is that their business will be cut off from 95% of markets, because of US government policies.

pavanred 13y ago
Well, not really true. In fairness though the US population is less than 5% of the world, they amount to lot more than 5% of the market. The distinction is between the population and number of customers of internet/software based services/products.
- mkempe 13y ago
  As of 2012, US Internet users represented about 10% of world-wide Internet users. [1] Internet usage is far from being an exclusively American thing. Given recent trends, US users will within a decade represent 5% of world-wide users, with relatively more expensive and narrower bandwidth at their disposal. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_users http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_...
lettergram 13y ago
That's population not wealth, trust me I am sure most US businesses (technology based ones) currently don't have a strong foot hold in China. Which by your calculations make up ~15% of the world markets. If we however look by wealth and assume our allies are alright with our methods (given it also helps them spy on their citizens it's a fair assumption) we aren't risking that much, considering the countries we aren't in are the only ones who would oppose this. I'm not saying that it's good practice to do what the U.S. did and I am appalled. However, they will not lose 95% of the markets, at least not now. There is currently no country with the capacity to generate as many new ideas into businesses, and the U.S. is roughly 25% of the worlds entire economy. Hell, just California is the worlds 7th largest economy. Further, you don't think the other large nations (by economy), such as Japan, China, India, Russia, the U.K. are not doing/going to do the same thing (I omitted Germany and France since they seem to not wire tap.. Not necessarily true). Business wouldn't and wont be cut 95%, I am pretty sure most countries are grateful the U.S. is setting precedent and will request them to issue warrants on their citizens.
- mkempe 13y ago
  Actually the US GDP is the same as the EU GDP -- almost 18% of the world's. [1] That's a little above China's. About the same as Japan + India + Brazil + Russia. Currently non-US economies represent 82% of the world. Non-US Internet users represent 90%. Non-US people are 95% of the world. And the US is not growing its share of world GDP, Internet usage, nor population. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)#Graph_of_largest_economies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)#...
- r0h1n 13y ago
  > That's population not wealth... I'd argue that the "wealth" (aka "valuation") of many US Internet companies is increasingly dependent on a larger user base instead of a richer one. Facebook paying $16B to acquire Whatsapp (and its 450M decidedly non-wealthy users) comes to mind.
- rakoo 13y ago
  > I omitted Germany and France since they seem to not wire tap You can remove France from that very short list. It has been revealed that France does its own surveillance on its own population, and exchanges this data with the USA through the Lustre program [0], revealed in a German newspaper [1]. What's even more interesting is that the USA has little penetration in Africa's surveillance, but due to its history, France has a very strong presence there: Most of the intercontinental cables end in France, and the biggest telecom operator (Orange, ex France Telecom) is present in pretty much in every french-speaking country in Africa, along with Bull-Amesys, the one that installed the shiny surveillance toy for Al-Assad. If the USA wants intelligence on Africa, signing a deal with France was a very important move. The french press not saying anything about it says everything about the level of independence and journalism. [0] http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2013/10/30/surveillance-la-dgse-a-transmis-des-donnees-a-la-nsa-americaine_3505266_3210.html http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2013/10/30/surve... [1] http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/codename-lustre-frankreich-liefert-informationen-an-britische-und-us-geheimdienste-1.1804606 http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/codename-lustre-frankreic...

by mkempe 13y ago

For context, the US population is currently less than 5% of the world. A danger for US companies is that their business will be cut off from 95% of markets, because of US government policies.

pavanred 13y ago

Well, not really true. In fairness though the US population is less than 5% of the world, they amount to lot more than 5% of the market. The distinction is between the population and number of customers of internet/software based services/products.

mkempe 13y ago
As of 2012, US Internet users represented about 10% of world-wide Internet users. [1] Internet usage is far from being an exclusively American thing. Given recent trends, US users will within a decade represent 5% of world-wide users, with relatively more expensive and narrower bandwidth at their disposal. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_users http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_...

lettergram 13y ago

That's population not wealth, trust me I am sure most US businesses (technology based ones) currently don't have a strong foot hold in China. Which by your calculations make up ~15% of the world markets. If we however look by wealth and assume our allies are alright with our methods (given it also helps them spy on their citizens it's a fair assumption) we aren't risking that much, considering the countries we aren't in are the only ones who would oppose this. I'm not saying that it's good practice to do what the U.S. did and I am appalled. However, they will not lose 95% of the markets, at least not now. There is currently no country with the capacity to generate as many new ideas into businesses, and the U.S. is roughly 25% of the worlds entire economy. Hell, just California is the worlds 7th largest economy. Further, you don't think the other large nations (by economy), such as Japan, China, India, Russia, the U.K. are not doing/going to do the same thing (I omitted Germany and France since they seem to not wire tap.. Not necessarily true). Business wouldn't and wont be cut 95%, I am pretty sure most countries are grateful the U.S. is setting precedent and will request them to issue warrants on their citizens.

mkempe 13y ago
Actually the US GDP is the same as the EU GDP -- almost 18% of the world's. [1] That's a little above China's. About the same as Japan + India + Brazil + Russia. Currently non-US economies represent 82% of the world. Non-US Internet users represent 90%. Non-US people are 95% of the world. And the US is not growing its share of world GDP, Internet usage, nor population. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)#Graph_of_largest_economies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)#...
r0h1n 13y ago
> That's population not wealth... I'd argue that the "wealth" (aka "valuation") of many US Internet companies is increasingly dependent on a larger user base instead of a richer one. Facebook paying $16B to acquire Whatsapp (and its 450M decidedly non-wealthy users) comes to mind.
rakoo 13y ago
> I omitted Germany and France since they seem to not wire tap You can remove France from that very short list. It has been revealed that France does its own surveillance on its own population, and exchanges this data with the USA through the Lustre program [0], revealed in a German newspaper [1]. What's even more interesting is that the USA has little penetration in Africa's surveillance, but due to its history, France has a very strong presence there: Most of the intercontinental cables end in France, and the biggest telecom operator (Orange, ex France Telecom) is present in pretty much in every french-speaking country in Africa, along with Bull-Amesys, the one that installed the shiny surveillance toy for Al-Assad. If the USA wants intelligence on Africa, signing a deal with France was a very important move. The french press not saying anything about it says everything about the level of independence and journalism. [0] http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2013/10/30/surveillance-la-dgse-a-transmis-des-donnees-a-la-nsa-americaine_3505266_3210.html http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2013/10/30/surve... [1] http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/codename-lustre-frankreich-liefert-informationen-an-britische-und-us-geheimdienste-1.1804606 http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/codename-lustre-frankreic...