Killing America

The Atlantic: “The problem for the companies, it’s worth emphasizing, is not that they were so unduly eager to cooperate with U.S. government surveillance. Many seem to have done what they could to resist. The problem is what the U.S. government — first under Bush and Cheney, now under Obama and Biden — asked them to do. As long as they operate in U.S. territory and under U.S. laws, companies like Google or Facebook had no choice but to comply. But people around the world who have a choice about where to store their data, may understandably choose to avoid leaving it with companies subject to the way America now defines its security interests.”

Makes me wonder if any large technology company would have the guts to leave the United States? Of the bigs cooperating with the US Government, Google seems like the only one different enough to pull it off. Then again, even they’ve become more like the typical American corporation.

I worked for an oil and gas company for nine months, or so. They were one of those slimy companies that had their headquarters in another country to avoid paying certain types of taxes, but when your government forces you to become a scumbag you might as well go the whole hog and leave the country.

I know a company that has recently moved from using Google Docs to using another service because of security concerns. Makes you go hmmmmm.

Maybe Google, given Larry Page’s desire to create Google Island, could lead the pack in moving the Silicon Valley to Silicon Land and start a new country?

Could you blame them?