Glenn Greenwald: Edward Snowden: ‘Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, and the rest of our internet titans must ask themselves why they aren’t fighting for our interests the same way’
I think it is interesting that some people are starting to take action (e.g. closing their businesses) in reaction to this, scare tactics or not. I also think it is somewhat concerning that the government did not just lean on the big firms, but has also started leaning on the little guys. Leaning on the big corporations is unsurprising to me because the government’s “reward” for succeeding is very high, with millions of records captured, and the risk is very low since the companies don’t have much choice but to comply if they lose legal appeals because their shareholders wouldn’t let them simply close up shop.
The politics of this certainly come across from both sides. However, I have a hard time damning them for doing what has worked in the recent past (slogans, tag lines, blowing things out of proportion, etc.) when a convincing case could be made that their position will *definitely* lose if they don’t politi-fight this way. This is annoying, but I really see no way around it.