Snowdon is a dummy

The German government has called for home-grown email and internet providers

An my government had the nerve to complained about Chinese government hacking of US firms!!!!!!!!

There is a substantial difference between "the NSA gaining knowledge of other governments' intentions and uncovering terrorist plots" and "China and France stealing the industrial secrets of private corporations".

I understand that certain treacherous nations may wish it to remain hidden that they are secretly on the side of the terrorists, but it still might be a good idea for the US to pursue punitive tariffs through the WTO.

oralloy wrote:

I understand that certain treacherous nations may wish it to remain hidden that they are secretly on the side of the terrorists, but it still might be a good idea for the US to pursue punitive tariffs through the WTO.

So you think that the privacy of correspondence, posts and telecommunications is a sign that someone - a country, gob´vernment, company or private, is supporting terrorism.

The WTO, by the way, is not owned by the USA.

"Apple has never worked with the NSA to create a backdoor in any of our products, including the iPhone," said the company in a statement to ABC News. "We care deeply about our customers' privacy and security. Whenever we hear about attempts to undermine Apple's industry-leading security, we thoroughly investigate and take appropriate steps to protect our customers."

Many of these documents date back to 2008, when the iPhone 3G was the newest smartphone available, so it's not clear whether Dropout Jeep could affect modern phones.

Billy Lau, a security researcher at Georgia Tech, said that while Apple has beefed up its security since 2008, it's not invulnerable.

"The Evasion jailbreak of iOS 7 implies that part of the OS has been exploited and has some deep security implications," he told ABC News.

Bradley Shear, a lawyer who specializes in Internet privacy, said that the NSA spyware may be out of Apple's control, as well as out of other companies' control such as Google and Microsoft.

"I don't think any of the tech companies would knowingly allow [for NSA tapping]," he said. "But the NSA has a know-how to do things the tech community may not be aware of."

So everyone has a right to have human rights ... if she/he is an US-American and follows your ideas.

The fact that the NSA is given the ability to hunt for terrorists does not violate anyone's human rights.

That's what I wanted to say: YOU decide it.

The truth is the truth of its own accord.

oralloy wrote:

The truth is the truth of its own accord.

Indeed. The NSA breaks German law on German soil. And disregards - acting on and from German soil - our constitutional rights.

(I do not believe the German government participated in bugging the phones of German government officials, but I also do not believe that this bugging involved any action on German soil.)

If a joint US/German operation violated German law, I suggest that complaints about it should really be addressed to the German government instead of acting like the US has committed some sort of terrible misdeed.

But all of this has little to do with German corporations avoiding American technology products. The fact that the US might be spying on other governments, or might be scanning for terrorist plots, is not a valid reason for any private industry to boycott our goods.

But before anyone complains about the German government, since any joint NSA/German operation on German soil was likely dedicated to preventing terrorists from killing German citizens, I also suggest that perhaps a little bit of perspective might be appropriate. If this was really a violation of a statute in German law, maybe the problem here is that statute.

oralloy wrote:

If a joint US/German operation violated German law, I suggest that complaints about it should really be addressed to the German government instead of acting like the US has committed some sort of terrible misdeed.

That would be the Federal Constitutional Court (since it's mainly a constitutional matter) - we have a separation of powers here.

oralloy wrote:

But all of this has little to do with German corporations avoiding American technology products. The fact that the US might be spying on other governments, or might be scanning for terrorist plots, is not a valid reason for any private industry to boycott our goods.

Private industries can do here what they want as long as it is covered by OUR laws.