<div dir="ltr"><div>I thank Snowden for catching them with their hands in the cookie jar. He doesn't bear responsibility (in my opinion) for the pushback our country is seeing from foreign interests based on what was released, responsibility resides with those who thought it was a good idea in the first place.<br>
<br></div><div>They could have followed the rules and only spied on people involved in an actual investigation who weren't US citizens in-country, but they had to go completely overboard. That's their real problem, as I see it. They decided that they couldn't know who was a terrorist so they felt they had to assume that everyone was one and act accordingly.<br>
<br></div><div>Paul<br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 2:06 PM, Scott Dredge <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:scooterd408@hotmail.com" target="_blank">scooterd408@hotmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div><div dir="ltr">Does Eric Snowden get any thanks as well for this supposed $180B in lost revenue? Seems he should at least get partial credit for getting the word out. It's not unprecedented that entire companies have gone belly up when their secrets have been revealed to the outside world as well. This is why Apple plays their cards so close to the vest.<br>
<br><div><hr>Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2014 13:09:12 -0700<br>From: <a href="mailto:paul.rumelhart@gmail.com" target="_blank">paul.rumelhart@gmail.com</a><br>To: <a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank">vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>
Subject: [Vision2020] NSA Popping the Technology Bubble<div><div class="h5"><br><br><div dir="ltr"><h1><span style="font-weight:normal">An estimated $180B in lost revenues to US technology firms, with more on the way. Thank you, NSA.</span></h1>
Paul<br><br><br>From: <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/NSA-US-data-revenue/2014/08/06/id/587145/" target="_blank">http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/NSA-US-data-revenue/2014/08/06/id/587145/</a><br>
<br><br><br><h1>NSA Popping the Technology Bubble</h1><div>
Wednesday, 06 Aug 2014 08:24 AM<br>
By <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Insiders/PatrickWatson/id-167" target="_blank">Patrick Watson</a><br>
<br>Whatever you think about Edward Snowden, there is no doubt his
revelations from inside the National Security Agency (NSA) rocked the
technology sector. The consequences are still unfolding more than a year
later — and a new independent report says much more is coming.<br>
<br>
U.S. technology leaders like Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco (CSCO) and
International Business Machines (IBM) are in a nearly impossible
position. They have to tolerate whatever secret "requests" the U.S.
government makes, both for legal reasons and because Uncle Sam is a huge
customer.<br>
<br>
At the same time, they need overseas revenue to meet their growth
targets, and it is practically impossible to convince foreign leaders
that their sensitive data is safe and secure in American hands.<br>
<br>
Cisco, for example, openly admitted last year that Snowden was a big
reason for the firm's 10 percent revenue drop. The situation hasn't
improved since then. Qualcomm (QCOM), IBM, Microsoft and others all
blame the "Snowden effect" for <a href="http://www.moneynews.com/PatrickWatson/China-Russia-US-trade/2014/05/28/id/573678/" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);font-weight:bold">lost business in China</span></a>.<br>
<br>
Even some U.S. allies are turning their backs on our technology firms.
The German government cancelled a data services contract with Verizon
(VZ) in June because it no longer trusts the company to protect its
network from NSA spying.<br>
<br>
Brazil awarded a $4.5 billion contract for fighter jets to Sweden's Saab
instead of Boeing (BA), which had fought hard to win the job.<br>
<br>
Last week, the New America Open Technology Institute released a report
outlining the economic damage of NSA spying. They make an important
point that many observers overlook. The <em>perception</em> that U.S. companies cooperate with the NSA is just as important as the reality.<br>
<br>
Whether these companies knew what NSA was doing or cooperated really
doesn't matter. What matters is that a good portion of the world is
rightly suspicious of them. Regaining the lost trust will take years,
even decades.<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, foreign competitors wasted no time <a href="http://www.moneynews.com/PatrickWatson/Brazil-NSA-tech-network/2014/05/21/id/572521/" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);font-weight:bold">exploiting this new perception</span></a>.
In some cases, their own governments are pushing them along with "data
localization" requirements. Brazil, Germany, Russia, India, Greece and
others are moving to require private data stay within their borders.<br>
<br>
The once-open Internet is fragmenting into smaller pieces that cannot
operate with the global scale U.S. leaders envisioned. Our government's
insane drive to penetrate every network in the world is making the world
slam the door in our face. <br>
<br>
One could argue that this is a small cost if it protects the United
States from terrorism. We can't know if it does or not. We can know that
the direct costs to the U.S. economy are enormous and growing. The
technology sector is our crown jewel — and now most of the world is
looking elsewhere. <br>
<br>
The result will be slower growth for U.S. tech companies, especially the
cloud-computing segment. Some estimates peg the amount of lost revenue
at as much as $180 billion during the next three years.<br>
<br>
The NSA might be good enough to find the proverbial needle in a
haystack. Unfortunately, it looks like they will use it to pop our own
homegrown bubble. <br></div></div>
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