Photo by Rene Mensen under Creative Commons License
3 things we know governments will always do are:
- Tax
- Spend
- Spy
The last point, fueled by the Ed Snowden leaks, seems to be keeping the media busy. Now the China-run state-owned media is calling on the Chinese government to sanction the major US technology companies who are "pawns of the US Government".
China Daily and People's Daily have called upon their leaders to "severely punish" the companies mentioned in the Edward Snowden leaks.
“U.S. companies including Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc. are all coordinating with the PRISM program to monitor China,”
Most companies have openly and vehemently denied working with the NSA. One such spokesperson is Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond
“We cannot say this more clearly - the (U.S.) government does not have access to Google servers - not directly, or via a back door, or a so-called drop box”
I believe the next few month will be interesting. Let's see how (and if) China takes an official position. It is important to remember that Chinese telcom equipment manufacturers were disqualified from bidding on US government contracts because of concerns about spying. Now that the Snowden leaks show the US may be intercepting Cisco equipment to implant its own hidden tools, could other countries start boycotting US telecom equipment manufacturers?
Source : Reuters