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Comment by palata

6 hours ago

> Europe continues to push policies like Chat Control and attempt to backdoor/ban E2E encryption

Some politicians in Europe push for that, until now it has been refused by the others. Unlike in the US, there are many different parties in European countries. And Europe is made of politicians from many parties from many countries.

> The worst parts of Patriot Act were undone in 2015

So the NSA doesn't do any kind of domestic surveillance anymore, is that what you believe?

> the "F" in FISA stands for "Foreign". [...] Europe continues to push policies [...] for domestic surveillance.

So if it's surveilling allies, it's all good in your opinion?

> The present day and trajectory in Europe is far far more grim than in the US.

"Far far"? Do you even realise that Europe is not one single country? The US elected Trump, twice.

>> Some politicians in Europe push for that, until now it has been refused by the others. Unlike in the US, there are many different parties in European countries. And Europe is made of politicians from many parties from many countries. > And yet neither party in the US is pushing for it...

This is a bad retort. The U.S. has 2 relevant parties. Most countries in the EU have at least twice as many relevant parties and there are over 25 countries in Europe, so you’re looking at close to 100 relevant parties.

Yes, I am an American living in Europe. I have pretty good insight into all of this.

> Some politicians in Europe push for that, until now it has been refused by the others. Unlike in the US, there are many different parties in European countries. And Europe is made of politicians from many parties from many countries.

And yet neither party in the US is pushing for it...

> So the NSA doesn't do any kind of domestic surveillance anymore, is that what you believe?

Do you have any evidence to the contrary? Or if you believe this without evidence, do you have any evidence this is not occurring in Europe?

> So if it's surveilling allies, it's all good in your opinion?

Lol, lmao even. Yes, of course it is. Allies spy on each other. The Europeans do it to each other massively and have done since the dawn of Europe. Good lord, go read some history.

> "Far far"? Do you even realise that Europe is not one single country? The US elected Trump, twice.

Again, I live in Europe. I am well aware, but thanks for the classic European condescension. I don't like Trump. But how has he weakened privacy rights? And yes, beacause I don't want to write dozens of caveats for each teeny tiny member state, I consider Europe to be dominated by happenings in DE + FR + UK. I don't care what Latvia does.

  • > thanks for the classic European condescension.

    This is such a strange statement about a massively culturally diverse part of the world.

    Many European countries speak such poor English that it'd be a miracle if they developed some sort of unified condescension.

    I'd argue a big part of Europe not performing as well as other parts of the world economically is the LACK of any defined culture, it's really more like a hodgepodge of countries that have a thin layer of cooperation

    • I have no clue what English comprehension, monolith culture, and condescension have to do with one another? Or even the presumption that I only speak English?

      It's not a strange statement in the slightest if you live here or spend any appreciable time here. I take it you do not.

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  • You don’t care about Latvia and I don’t care about some dickhead who "lives in Europe" and knows it all. And I’m not even from Latvia, you’re just pathetic.

  • You are so stereotypical, it's very funny :-).

    I believe that there is a bit of an asymmetry between US people and... well the rest of the world, in that the WHOLE world has some level of insights into the US. Whether they want it or not, for many different reasons.

    However, the US don't typically have a good insights into... the rest of the world. Which does make sense: the rest of the world is pretty big.

    Of course the US is more complicated than "they elected Trump". Sure, there are 50 states. But everybody knows that (be it just because your president repeatedly threatens to annex Canada as the 51st state ;-) ). People in the rest of the world do not need to "live in the US" to have that level of insights, because the US makes sure they do, by force if necessary.

    The mere fact that you don't seem to be aware of this asymmetry at all suggests that you over-estimate your "pretty good insight into all of Europe".

  • This comment could not have been more stereotypically American. I stress "stereotypical", I'm obviously not saying Americans in general are like this.

    > I don't like Trump. But how has he weakened privacy rights?

    Attacks on rule of law and civil liberties have increased, and the right to privacy is one of those liberties. It's of course not limited to Trump, he wasn't in office when Snowden showed the world the scale of American mass surveillance on domestic and foreign citizens.

    > Do you have any evidence to the contrary?

    I'm totally unsure what you are attempting to imply. That mass surveillance by the American state stopped at some point in the last 10 years?

    > Allies spy on each other. The Europeans do it to each other massively and have done since the dawn of Europe. Good lord, go read some history.

    What does that even mean "read history" ahaha. Espionage != mass surveillance. You do understand the difference, do you not?

    > thanks for the classic European condescension

    > I consider Europe to be dominated by happenings in DE + FR + UK. I don't care what Latvia does.

    l m a o. Oh say can you see...

    • > This comment could not have been more stereotypically American.

      Of course. As I noted before, dripping in European condescension. Nothing you can actually point to, just condescension from a region that has been left behind over the past century.

      > Attacks on rule of law and civil liberties have increased, and the right to privacy is one of those liberties. It's of course not limited to Trump, he wasn't in office when Snowden showed the world the scale of American mass surveillance on domestic and foreign citizens.

      Which right or in what way has the right to privacy been attacked? Fully agree with you on attacks on rule of law. And I find Trump incredibly dangerous. But I do not think privacy in the US today has suffered. Please educate me.

      > I'm totally unsure what you are attempting to imply. That mass surveillance by the American state stopped at some point in the last 10 years?

      I am not implying anything. The Freedom Act curtailed a bunch of activities. You are implying nothing has changed. All of the Snowden revelations implicated many European countries: intelligence agencies spying on each others populations. I am asking you if you believe nothing has changed in the US do you 1) have any evidence of this and/or 2) believe that anything has changed in Europe? You've answered neither.

      > What does that even mean "read history" ahaha. Espionage != mass surveillance. You do understand the difference, do you not?

      Do you understand that the mass surveillance of European people was done at the behest of the intelligence agencies of those countries? And ditto for the NSA. The agreement was "you spy on mine and I'll spy on yours and we'll swap the intel". I am not talking about espionage. Foreign intelligence agencies spying on foreigners...what did you think they did?

      > l m a o. Oh say can you see...

      God, it's so painful. Yes in the same way that you talk about the US as a monolith and not 50 individual states. You don't care what Rhode Island does any more than I care what Latvia does.

      Christ you guys are insufferable. It's no wonder everyone is leaving in droves.

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