The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) has released a report claiming that U.S. tech companies have lost $35 billion in sales as a result of "failure of U.S. policymakers to address surveillance concerns" after the release of the first Snowden documents in 2013.
ITIF recommends that policymakers:
* Increase transparency about U.S. surveillance activities both at home and abroad.
* Strengthen information security by opposing any government efforts to introduce backdoors in software or weaken encryption.
* Strengthen U.S. mutual legal assistance treaties (MLATs).
* Work to establish international legal standards for government access to data.
* Complete trade agreements like the Trans Pacific Partnership that ban digital protectionism, and pressure nations that seek to erect protectionist barriers to abandon those efforts.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday June 12 2015, @01:44PM
Is this the same kind of "we lost $35 billion" as Hollywood always claim when someone pirates a movie? They translate and see all negatives as a lost sale on their part -- as in every downloader would have bought a ticket, times ticket cost equal actual loss? In this case I assume it to be that every deal that involved a non-american rival tech product creating a loss. A loss that wouldn't have been if it hadn't been for the NSA and Snowden, they seem a bit unsure of whom they want to blame. In either case it's just as much bullshit as when Hollywood claims it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2015, @02:54PM
Yeah, but the two situations are completely different. So obviously completely 100 percent different that it's not even worth discussing.
How many x86 servers does Hollywood sell? That's just one example.