> GCHQ also seems to punch way above its weight for such a small country Depends what you mean by small country. By land mass certainly, but that didn't stop t

> GCHQ also seems to punch way above its weight for such a small country Depends what you mean by small country. By land mass certainly, but that didn't stop them amassing the largest empire in history [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire] and it's the 5th largest in terms of GDP [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi...] For me, the GDP is the important part. Hacking, snooping, spying has always been less about national security than it has about power, control, money and greed. The interwebs has just provided new challenges whilst making it easier to collect data on the masses. Terrorism is the new excuse. This article was also posted earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9959818 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9959818 It's old news under a new guise, and the collaboration is a long standing one.