Excellent read, and troubling. Privacy is a huge concern of mine, and I had a pretty good idea of what was going on. I did not realize that Skype was included in this, I thought it was pretty secure.

NSA surveillance: The US is behaving like China - The Guardian

Quote from the article"

Civilization is built on that trust and everyone must fight to defend it, and to protect our vulnerable aspects – our inner feelings, our families. We must not hand over our rights to other people. No state power should be given that kind of trust. Not China. Not the US.

The best comment I read was:
I did enjoy one comment I saw somewhere on the interwebs (sorry can't remember where) - that the public would be much more accepting of this behaviour if the NSA gave away a browser, search engine, provided a free mapping service and hosted email.

From: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/08/what_about_a_us_tech_boycott/

And a great point:

Why the NSA Prism Program Could Kill U.S. Tech Companies - Popular Mechanics
Spying on foreigners could create a terrible blowback to the U.S. economy.

And I am surprised, from what little I know, that the EU Privacy requirements were flouted.

Labels: privacy, spying, US Chinese Image