Look HN is not a US-only site. For those of us in the other 200 odd countries it...

jsmeaton · on Sept 10, 2013

We non-US citizens have even MORE to worry about, because there are no laws to protect us and our privacy. We are open season.

gbog · on Sept 10, 2013

If you are in Europe then you may have better enforced laws protecting you. If you are in Africa your government might not have the expertise and resources to spy on you. If you are in China, well...

remedialhedge · on Sept 11, 2013

I think he means that it is even easier for the US government to spy on you if you're outside of America, not that your domestic government might.

jsmeaton · on Sept 11, 2013

Yes, that is indeed what I meant.

maaku · on Sept 11, 2013

You have absolutely no protection from the U.S. government. Your European rights and protections meaning nothing in an American court.

gbog · on Sept 11, 2013

Ok, I kinda misunderstood the GP's point, but even then, as Europeans our governments still have gone some lengths in protecting Europeans' privacy.

For instance, something in the safe-harbor blabla says citizen data handled by public angencies in Europe is not allowed to go through US nor, obviously, to be stored in the US. This rule is not new: in my previous job we had to ditch gmail and gapps in order to comply, and it was f*ing painful.

mark_integerdsv · on Sept 11, 2013

South African here - we have a lovely little bit of legislation known as RICA. Don't assume that African govts are backward in terms of technology.

randomafrican · on Sept 11, 2013

You guys are outliers and you know it (some of you are even proud of it).

So the GP is right. African governements in general do not have the means to spy on your electronic life.

Brakenshire · on Sept 11, 2013

> For those of us in the other 200 odd countries it really is boring as hell to have to wade through your pointless, unsubstantiated paranoia.

Speak for yourself, not for the rest of us, please.