http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/9/wyden-nsa-eavesdropping-hurting-us-economy/
NSA Eavesdropping Hurting U.S. Economy
"If a foreign enemy was doing this much damage to the economy, people would be in the streets with pitchforks." That quote was said by Oregon Senator Ron Wyden (D) in regards to the NSA scandal. Some companies working in global technology and communications were forced to adhere to the rules and regulations the NSA administered concerning what work they would be doing. Companies like Microsoft, Google, and Facebook were among many others in the NSA's army of information collectors. Based on opportunity costs, one can see that this is already a hindrance to the companies because their work is focused on something that isn't making them ridiculous amounts of money. The time and effort is taken away from what the companies do best, and it is put towards government responsibility. However, the other economic impact is even larger than the lack of production issue.
Foreign nations don't trust us anymore. Our own citizens don't trust us anymore. Look at the cloud computing industry; the Cloud preaches great security to all participants, but in reality, all of the information can be accessed. When this fact was released to the public, citizens were mad, and they stopped using the cloud. Some estimates predict a decrease of $35 billion in the cloud computing industry. As for foreign citizens, they simply don't want a foreign nation looking at their personal information. They lost trust in companies like Google and Facebook, both of which get 50% of their revenue from foreign consumers. If these consumers lose trust and stop using the products, it is easy to predict what will happen to the revenue of these companies. With the impact that the NSA has on tech companies, it is almost guaranteed that the rest of the economy will be on the receiving end of the financial burdens that may follow.
- David Gerhart
I agree with you. People need privacy! I hate how they can access to everything we do/own. I have to think it through when I want to post something on facebook or send an email. It's really annoying. The economy may go down because of the NSA, not because of the inflation. Our economy relies on foreign countries, without their trust, our economy is going down.
ReplyDeleteI'm really not all that outraged that the government decided to do the things they did regarding this matter. I really don't have anything to hide from the government and if they really want to look at my twitter page so be it. I dislike the fact that it hurt our economy but at the same time I have to say that I would rather have a terrorist plot stopped than what I do online shielded from the government.
ReplyDeleteI feel like there is a point where eavesdropping on private matters needs to be stopped, but in this case, I'm very indifferent. This may just be my opinion, but if the government were to look into my information, I would not really be angry. If a company, government agency, or any other firm doesn't have anything to hide, they should not be worried. And if there is something they wanted to cover up, it should be discovered before it begins to develop into a major scandal that sets those involved back even further.
ReplyDeleteAll personal information should stay off of "the cloud" in the first place. I'm going to agree with Ben on this one. It's one of those "rather be safe than sorry" matters. In my opinion way too many people put way to personal updates on their social networks and what not. On the other hand, I'm not for the government doing this either. They're already destroying part of our freedom by taking away all of this privacy.
ReplyDeleteLike others have mentioned, I would not be personally hurt should the government monitor my online information, as I have nothing to hide. I could definitely see the other side of the argument though, as this could be interpreted as a violation of privacy. In general, this is probably a negative thing to have happen because of the aforementioned trust issues between big consumers and big companies like facebook.
ReplyDeleteThose who argue that they "don't have anything to hide from the government" clearly aren't thinking about the implications of the NSA's actions. Not only are the NSA's actions hurting the American economy, but they are taking away constitutional rights that we may never get back. The information that the NSA is collecting can easily be abused, and if you can't trust your government to let you keep your healthcare plan, why should you trust them with your personal information?
ReplyDeleteI agree with David. While there are some constitutional rights I'm more dubious about, the right to privacy is, in my opinion, one of the more important. It is what prevents us from turning into a big brother state, like those seen in fantasy novels. If this was allowed to occur, who's to say the government wouldn't get carried away? I trust the government but we need to have preventative measures in, just in case a wackjob enters office.
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