Funny how with Israel/Gaza, Ukraine/Russia, The Bachelor finale, and so on, the main stream media seems to have forgotten about all this.

The National Security Agency spying scandal will cost the US technology and telecommunications industries billions of dollars in coming years if potential clients—including corporations and governments—take their business elsewhere following revelations of rampant US surveillance, according to a new study.

The financial cost to trading en eToro for US corporate giants like IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, AT&T and Verizon is just the tip of the iceberg.
[…]
“Too often, we have discussed the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs through the distorting lens of a simplistic ‘security versus privacy’ narrative,” Danielle Kehl, a policy analyst at OTI and the primary author of the report, said in a statement. “But if you look closer, the more accurate story is that in the name of security, we’re trading away not only privacy, but also the US tech economy, internet openness, America’s foreign policy interests, and cybersecurity.”



  1. Tim says:

    Boo. Hoo. hoo. Fuck’em and feed them fishheads…

  2. sargasso_c says:

    I don’t buy it. Multinationals are already offshore, and the STEM workforce is mobile. Not because of the cyber war but because they go where they like.

    • Bob says:

      I work for one of those multi-nationals that is US headquartered. We were about to invest heavily (100’s millions of $) in both Microsoft and Google cloud services, but recently have backed away from the deal because our European operations will not allow us to store any information in them.
      Its a huge deal, and is going to have a major impact on the US tech sector.

      • bobbo, a student of the dismal science who who does not understand Macro Economics once you get off an island with 12 coconuts, 3 canoes, and 6 paddles says:

        Can you be more specific?

        Seems to me the decision you have made is to “not use cloud storage” as cloud storage everywhere is in reality totally unsecured to gubment scrutiny. USA, China, Europe, Russia==all have access to any cloud storage.

        Am I wrong?

  3. fw says:

    Yeah no reason at all to be worried that whatever people can make at home(programs) and sell themselves will be tainted by “it will probably open you up to anyone who has figured out the nsa and the likes backdoors to the program”
    And “it is probably full of spy crap because it is form america”
    So who will it hurt?
    All who sell stuff under an american brand/place.
    Not that anyone doubt that the american spy institutions will limit themseves to simply domestic products that sell.
    How hard is it after all to make a name and a website outside of the USA.
    But the taint will be over the American products.
    So make sure your kids thank you for ruining their business before it has even started.

    • Tim says:

      you can take a fishhead to the movies — don’t have to pay to get it in…

  4. American Fishhead says:

    because nothing says “i love you and want the kids to be safe” like our no-tech fishheads.

    American Fishhead — the brand that smells…

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=6WC6EbRQmJ0

  5. Hillary for president 2000whatever says:

    This is a bold face lie, NBC/cnn/FOX specifically told me that this was caused by Snowden so I will choose to believe that .

  6. Warning! Will Robinson. Warning! says:

    I suppose no one can remember the warning old Ben gave us (paraphrased):

    Anyone who would trade freedom for security deserves NEITHER!

    And so it goes with shit like the Patriot Act which reinforce secret Nazi-esque courts like FISA and an ever increase in the number of closed door meetings/hearings in CONGRESS!

    We’ll just forget for the moment our ever eroding CONSTITUTION! Because it seems our nation of couch potatoes don’t agree that anyone has a right to life, liberty, or a pursuit of happiness — unfettered from dictatorial power mongers in government or big business. Never mind any of old Ben’s other warnings because they (the powers that be) want YOU to keep watching your favorite Hollywood “programming” (and political pundits).

    I mean, did anyone ever think any of this shit would actually be good for the public or the economy on which it depends? Could it be that the severe over reaction to 9-11 (not the least of which plunged America into 2 shooting wars) just might lend CREDIT to the crazy assholes who orchestrated it?! Don’t be too quick to answer if your uneducated ass was planted in front of a television or computer somewhere watching it all unfold — YOU are part of the problem when you fail to act (non-violently, of course).

    … And if you’re so anal as to get bogged down with non-relevant minutia like where a quote came from, it will be PROOF that you are an even bigger part of the overall problem.

    So here’s what I have to say: You right vs left assholes need to get a grip on REALITY and then DO something positive to preserve everyone’s “rights” — no matter how much you might disagree. Otherwise, the left will eventually get it’s way to control your ass (including your very thoughts) while the right gets to exterminate it! So it isn’t so much a matter of right versus left — it’s a matter of right versus WRONG!

    • Tim says:

      “Anyone who would trade freedom for security deserves NEITHER!”

      Everybody forgets the rest of it… *and will have neither*

      • bobbo, we think with words, and flower with ideas says:

        Yep, and neither expression, the long or short version, ever apply to the subject at hand==just like here.

        More to the point: Freedom and Security are always traded off.

        And on the point here: don’t confuse claims of Security for outright imposition of tyranny.

        Words.

        …………………………… so close.

        • Tim says:

          I did not choose to trade it. Others imposed it onto me… The cowardly gullible and the cowardly government… Both illegitimate to be accepting shit from.

          your ‘government’ did 911 — the response was already written down. Your ‘government’ says inebriation == impairment. Your government creates disease and witholds natural and free herbs to cure them.

          I’ve no respect for those who go out of their way to ‘respect’ an imposters’ arbitrary law just because it makes them feel whatever.

          I’m not sure the guy who doesn’t understand the underpinnings of temperature that argues for AGW is the one to be taking civics lessons from either.

          • Tim says:

            Just how does an illegitimate, gullible group of cattle impose itself upon me??

            one example would be mail — everybody just accepts the government surveillance now so that not putting all your correspondence on the back of the envelope is, now indeed, all it takes to get the extra safety peeks.

            another would be people using facefuck. Now that everybody uses facefuck, I’ll be an extra nasty chop your presidents dick off and shove it down the dikes’ daughter’s throat because i just happen not to use facebook.

            another is going to be the driverless and somewhat automated cars. Of course, they will exponentially grow rearend and in-intersection collisions by their actions {like slamming on brakes when sensing impending rear-end collision from another vehicle} but all these will be shown to be the fault of the non-spy car. The non-spy cars will be treated like those smoking weed or drinking alchohol or simply lack of insurance… Only one of these factors contribute to vehicular misshaps and then only rarely {regardless of what bullshit the reader has been indoctrinated with} but soon, simply not relenquishing control is an automatic “your at fault”.

            shove your group safety up your cunt and quit trying to measure my lawn height — the snakes are for the obomacare negotiators.

        • Tim says:

          “”don’t confuse claims of Security for outright imposition of tyranny.

          Ohh, I think I see your point…. Never mind {i’m most dreadfully embarrased}.

          Yes. Tyranny. The accepted tyranny of mind facilitates the rollout of tyranny at the bowling ally…

  7. Stanley Ipkiss says:

    OTOH (wisely) nobody trusts the government yet the government doesn’t trust the citizenry from which it (theoreticaly) derives its authority (We The People). Yet voters (does anyone remember “voters”) keep putting in people who approve of how we “secretly” snoop on each other with no accountability.
    The US will be defeated from within, as Americans stop trusting Americans. It’s already happening, and the rest of the world sees our mutual distrust and finds that not an appealing environment to do business in. The supra-national, those with the resources to take care of themselves without needing any national allegiances, already pit one country against another economically.
    Giving up is not an option, and dividing America blue / red or “conservative” / “liberal” doesn’t help a bit. Fighting for America (not “my America” vs. “your America”) is the point. But that won’t get people to watch one faux news channel vs. another and too many base their thoughts on the TV alone. Sad to watch. Sadder to live through it.

    • Stanley Ipkiss says:

      alright so I can’t spell theoretically

      • Tim says:

        [DELETED FOR VIOLATION OF BLOG RULES – ed.]

        • Tim says:

          I apologize. {we need an informationclearinghouse to archive all the banned comments… as a research tool and so I can remember what i type drunk}

          Oh yea…

          “”(wisely) nobody trusts the government…

          I just can not let blatant bigoted overgeneralization like that stand unanswered —

          bobbo and whatever lurker here used to be dallas trustes the government… your argument is invalid.

      • Pet D. says:

        Your post sounds broken, sir… I’ll bet it was something nice though… bobbo should be along any moment with some kind of social *glue*….

        • bobbo, everything I know, I learned watching the Discovery Channel says:

          Koala’s do use a quick drying non-p0tent seminal fluid to seal off the vagina before depositing sperm rich fluid into the space above the blockage.

          But I only have one kind of seminal fluid.

          ………and Kool aide.

          Not so much a social glue…. I would never be so expansive…. just advancing my own interests in competition ….. as we all do.

          • Tim says:

            after many cycles… a proper response to this still eludes me, bobbo.

            I’ll still work on it {and I don’t know why}

          • bobbo, Big Brained Apes with Lizard Emotions is an Evolutionary Dead End says:

            Don’t work up a sweat…. relax…. have a beer.

            It means nothing, just word association and what I was doing at the time.

            Glue–Discovery channel show on Koalas and how different vangina plugs work in the Animal kingdom depending on whether you are screwing in trees or on the ground.

            I did file it away for future reference though.

          • Tim says:

            Splunge.

    • John E Quantum says:

      It really doesn’t matter who we elect. Once someone enters office, their perspective changes. A presidential candidate can say and promise anything before being elected, but once they take office they are shown the reality that has been colored by the perceptions of the people who protect America. The weight of the responsibility for protecting America that these people labor under is very real, but that weight tends to warp their perceptions. The security of America has become the most important task for those holding elected office and therefore achieving it by any means necessary becomes an acceptable course of action.

      • bobbo, everything I know, I learned watching the Discovery Channel says:

        I don’t agree. Using our Military at the drop of a raving Neo-Con conspiracy theory is NOT protecting America.

        No.

        I think the President gets bitched slapped around the Oval Office and told flat out he will be assassinated if he screws with the Black Hand of the Bilderberg Group.

        Its the only thing that could provide such a standard one day in office conversion.

  8. normankeena says:

    one of the first thoughts I had when US charge off to boots on the ground Afghanistan, was ‘don’t they know were saudi arabia is ‘ so i assumed saudi paid google maps to hide their country. and us tax payer paid opt out/opt in. Hokie pokie and do it all again.

    My first impression of usa was men on horses with six shooters shooting at other men on horses with six shooters and everybody was shooting forward at whom, i never did find those little men in the back of the TV set.

    For the sake of the conceit, let us pretend there is a market logo ‘US’ and maybe even couple hundred other similar and to add to the confusion they all veiing for place in second life virtual space.

    a friend tells a tail of how trying to sell a philips radio receiver in market place india he had to say that english written words ‘made in holland’ mean made in usa.. it helped future selling price and so haggle could start there.

    • normankeena says:

      oh i forgot to say, that was while indira ghandii was passing BBC receivers for nuts cracked in railway junction

  9. NewFormatSux says:

    So what? I’ve learned from this site that these companies are evil because they hire H1B visaholders from overseas. Microsoft recently announced layoffs of 18000, and IBM is constantly laying off in pursuit of an earnings per share goal next year.
    So if companies are losing business who are hiring from overseas and increasingly engaged in inversion to pay no taxes here as well, while firing American workers, why should I care?

  10. NewFormatSux says:

    Note that eliminating the NSA spying will not solve the problem, as the distrust will remain as well as the knowledge that these companies cooperated with the US.

    So the real villain of this story, if this is actually damaging as implied, would be Snowden who revealed the plot. Even the article says the problem is in the revelation.

    • American Fishhead says:

      god bless TheTrueHOOHA!!

      he’s like that little fish swimming backwards against all the others on the old goldfish cracker wrappers {which we totally lifted — how ya gonna sue? .. type your supersecret filing up on a FishHead??}

      American Fishhead — When you really really need this kind of tripe, We deliver any odoriferous thing you can chum up…

  11. J.C. and the boys says:

    when we had hard times, we got hung, and drawn and quartered, and boiled in oil, and crucified, and we ate fishheads..

    American Fishhead. it’s in the bible…

  12. Rottenham says:

    True enough, we don’t have the attention span for the NSA issue. However, the issue of US tech losing money is overblown. The US may once have been a world leader in tech, but those days were offshored long ago. Tech is not one of the major US exports.

    Today, Americans make their money by putting their name on computers made in China, and selling them for a markup. We are a marketing nation now, for what that’s worth (which is little). If Europe never hires our IT people again because of our attitudes about security and privacy, the stock market won’t bat an eye.

  13. mickray says:

    I am Obama transparent. Shut up slave.

    • American Fishhead says:

      Try our one-time-application Emergency Obama Cover Cream. It’s liver oil of Puerto Rican Hooker fish and caramel #5 certified to be almost 100% nanospydust free. — Naturally authentic fragrence, low in Soetoro.

      American Fishhead — because the government doesn’t deserve to catalog your guts…

  14. Tim says:

    Upon further reflection; Fuck’em and feed’em fishheads.

    Here is a little anecdotal{??} —

    it was back in 2003 or so and i really needed access to my phone which i had just shattered in anger because of the crappy cell-provider contributing to my lack of contacting a doctor over a time-critical developement after an injury.

    I had already set up a clone motorola phone {had motorola bible, thought it cool} and all I needed was a valid whatever that number they give you is. I did not immediately reveal that I had this phone in my possession.

    Now, I’m at the store asking for a replacement phone and she tells me that i would need a new contract and the new GS-whatever-M system… She lied; My old 900 mhz bagphone can still place a call on the same systems to this day, if I so choose.

    Well, That is when I pulled out the pre-prepped phone {sans gps chips, then} and informed her that I would just like a valid liscense for it. She informed me that it was not possible to put the data in because they “lacked the necessary equipment” so I said “i’ll just use this number then, I’m not going to pay you more money for a guy to dress up in a suit and listen to me talk on the phone”… I pinged the tower…

    Just then, a particulary muscular, unshaven man in a fancy suit stepped out from the office divider one-way mirror — glaring at me.

    You see? these telecoms new damn well that was the biggest part of the new monetization — being government tools, same as it ever was. Only, bigger and better and worse.

    Fuck’em and feed’em fishheads.

  15. jimd says:

    Surely, all those uemployment offices and throngs of unemployed will feel more “secure” !


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