4 ms·

This kind of initiative is really great. It's refreshing to see the governments of major powers unite in order to enshrine protections for their citizens. It r

This kind of initiative is really great. It's refreshing to see the governments of major powers unite in order to enshrine protections for their citizens. It really paints a stark contrast with the USA-Russia-China totalitarianesque power bloc, though. Our government in the US is currently weaseling out of net neutrality while strongly pushing for omni-surveillance in addition to the usual drumbeat of anti-liberty measures in the name of security. Here, the message is that you have no privacy from the state, and if you want privacy from the corporate branch of the state, you're probably a criminal. I really wish we could point to this and shame our politicians into following suit.

happyscrappy 12y ago
I guess you haven't heard: "The Five Eyes are cooperating with various 3rd Party countries in at least two groups: The "Nine Eyes", consisting of the Five Eyes plus Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Norway. The "Fourteen Eyes", consisting of the same countries as the Nine Eyes plus Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Sweden.[41] The actual name of this group is SIGINT Seniors Europe (SSEUR) and its purpose is coordinating the exchange of military signals intelligence among its members.[42] Germany is reportedly interested in moving closer to the inner circle: an internal GCHQ document from 2009 said that the “Germans were a little grumpy at not being invited to join the 9-Eyes group." Germany may even wish to join Five Eyes.[43] Referring to Five Eyes, French President François Hollande has said that his country is "not within that framework and we don't intend to join."[44] According to a former top U.S. official, "Germany joining would be a possibility, but not France – France itself spies on the US far too aggressively for that." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement#9_Eyes.2C_14_Eyes.2C_and_other_.22third_parties.22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement#9_Eyes.2C_14_Ey...
dfc 12y ago
Brazil is not a major power.
- gtirloni 12y ago
  In which area exactly? Since 2005 it's been featured in the top 10 biggest economies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomin... http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/world_economies_gdp/ http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/world_economies_gdp/ Do you mean it's not a major power in privacy-related matters? It might not be and all the actions from the current president could just be PR stunts but at least the talks are happening in a certain direction (opposite to the US vision).
  - dfc 12y ago
    > In which area exactly? This question really gets to the heart of what it means to be a major power. If you have to narrow the examination to focus on somethings and exclude others you are not dealing with a major power. Major powers are major players in military, economic, diplomatic, and cultural spheres (it is important to note that these are big spheres too, like global sized spheres). I have never heard anyone say that Brazil is anything other than a regional power. If you are interested in learning more about power in international relations here are some wikipedia entries that might be a good start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_%28international_relations%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_%28international_relatio... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_power Addendum: It seems that you are from Brazil. Please do not take this personally or interpret it as a dismissal of Brazil.
    - gtirloni 12y ago
      Got it, and it makes perfect sense. Your initial comment was a bit too dry so I wanted to clarify. Thanks for those links, they look very interesting. Brazil aspires to be a world power but its execution is always sub par. I really like the quote that says "Brazil is the country of the future, and will always be". It is so true. We're certainly no military (our presence in Haiti is a joke) or economic power (our GDP is increasing mainly due to population size and small improvements in quality of life for really poor people, but industry productivity and innovation are, again, a joke and not taken seriously here). We like to think that in diplomatic issues Brazil has played some kind of middleman role but that's questionable (people won't give you status/credit just because.. and we don't even use the economic weight correctly, often trying to be the good guys) and in cultural sphere.. well, soccer and carnival are not something I'm proud of. Thanks again for your explanation, it's certainly spot on.

happyscrappy 12y ago

I guess you haven't heard: "The Five Eyes are cooperating with various 3rd Party countries in at least two groups: The "Nine Eyes", consisting of the Five Eyes plus Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Norway. The "Fourteen Eyes", consisting of the same countries as the Nine Eyes plus Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Sweden.[41] The actual name of this group is SIGINT Seniors Europe (SSEUR) and its purpose is coordinating the exchange of military signals intelligence among its members.[42] Germany is reportedly interested in moving closer to the inner circle: an internal GCHQ document from 2009 said that the “Germans were a little grumpy at not being invited to join the 9-Eyes group." Germany may even wish to join Five Eyes.[43] Referring to Five Eyes, French President François Hollande has said that his country is "not within that framework and we don't intend to join."[44] According to a former top U.S. official, "Germany joining would be a possibility, but not France – France itself spies on the US far too aggressively for that." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement#9_Eyes.2C_14_Eyes.2C_and_other_.22third_parties.22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement#9_Eyes.2C_14_Ey...

dfc 12y ago

Brazil is not a major power.

gtirloni 12y ago
In which area exactly? Since 2005 it's been featured in the top 10 biggest economies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomin... http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/world_economies_gdp/ http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/world_economies_gdp/ Do you mean it's not a major power in privacy-related matters? It might not be and all the actions from the current president could just be PR stunts but at least the talks are happening in a certain direction (opposite to the US vision).
- dfc 12y ago
  > In which area exactly? This question really gets to the heart of what it means to be a major power. If you have to narrow the examination to focus on somethings and exclude others you are not dealing with a major power. Major powers are major players in military, economic, diplomatic, and cultural spheres (it is important to note that these are big spheres too, like global sized spheres). I have never heard anyone say that Brazil is anything other than a regional power. If you are interested in learning more about power in international relations here are some wikipedia entries that might be a good start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_%28international_relations%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_%28international_relatio... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_power Addendum: It seems that you are from Brazil. Please do not take this personally or interpret it as a dismissal of Brazil.
  - gtirloni 12y ago
    Got it, and it makes perfect sense. Your initial comment was a bit too dry so I wanted to clarify. Thanks for those links, they look very interesting. Brazil aspires to be a world power but its execution is always sub par. I really like the quote that says "Brazil is the country of the future, and will always be". It is so true. We're certainly no military (our presence in Haiti is a joke) or economic power (our GDP is increasing mainly due to population size and small improvements in quality of life for really poor people, but industry productivity and innovation are, again, a joke and not taken seriously here). We like to think that in diplomatic issues Brazil has played some kind of middleman role but that's questionable (people won't give you status/credit just because.. and we don't even use the economic weight correctly, often trying to be the good guys) and in cultural sphere.. well, soccer and carnival are not something I'm proud of. Thanks again for your explanation, it's certainly spot on.