"However, other countries will have a good functioning democracy and a citizenry that values privacy and will avoid those abuses."
Is this just wishful thinking or is there a specific functioning democratic government that should we all trust?
My opinion is that nobody should trust any government. Not fully at least. Not their own. Certainly not somebody else's. History has shown this to be a generally prudent position to take. I mean, why should I trust the German government more than the United States government? How about Norway or Kenya or Thailand?
I do not think there's some magical country that is about to have a big business advantage based on "trust" because their citizens value privacy (as if that were even measurable). Most likely, countries will just become a touch more insular with their technology, noting that it, like food production, is somewhat of a national security issue.
Consider trust as a spectrum instead of a boolean value.
For example, Switzerland's long run as THE place where you could put your money and have a high level of trust that it would be safe and it would be anonymous.
They've lost their reputation somewhat over the last few years, but what made it THE place where you could trust your money?
They had laws, a government, and a citizenry that valued those privacy protections. On top of that, they had centuries of history of adhering to those principles even in the face of consequences from foreign forces (except for travesties like their treatment of Jewish account holders).
I don't think many people trusted the Swiss absolutely 100%. It was a small country with little military power and lots of money - which made it vulnerable. However, it was the best alternative at the time if you wanted to store money relatively safely and anonymously.
It made the Swiss rich. It was highly lucrative to be THE place to store money.
It'll be interesting to see who becomes the Swiss equivalent for data privacy.
If it helps, you can think of hosting your email in Germany as simply restoring some of the rights that the US Constitution used to give you. The US most likely doesn't have unfettered access to the German mail servers. If the NSA wants your data, they would actually have to justify it to the Germans.
It would be far from perfect, but it could be a bit of a hack to restore some of your 4th amendment rights.
>If the NSA wants your data, they would actually have to justify it to the Germans.
does Germany still have "German bureaucracy" ? From my anecdotal experience with German business they seem to place huge value on the "correct" way of doing things.
We shouldn't ever trust our government, and we should absolutely never trust someone else's.
However, I trust the political system more in Germany than I do elsewhere. It is designed (ironically by the Allies) to be stable and multi-partisan. Germany is used to coalitions and party's such as the Piratenpartei and the Greens actually have a voice here. The votes count, every single one.
Every single one, except for those ending up with parties below 5%: Those poor fellows aren't considered at all, which means that they're handled like non-voters, even though they certainly expressed their intent.
A ranking vote mechanism would help matters (if your primary vote doesn't end up with a party >=5%, your secondary vote is considered instead, etc.), but that would make the system favor smaller parties: not going to happen.
Is this just wishful thinking or is there a specific functioning democratic government that should we all trust?
My opinion is that nobody should trust any government. Not fully at least. Not their own. Certainly not somebody else's. History has shown this to be a generally prudent position to take. I mean, why should I trust the German government more than the United States government? How about Norway or Kenya or Thailand?
I do not think there's some magical country that is about to have a big business advantage based on "trust" because their citizens value privacy (as if that were even measurable). Most likely, countries will just become a touch more insular with their technology, noting that it, like food production, is somewhat of a national security issue.