It may sound strange for me as a European to be saying this, but I worry that the second stage of this will be a massive exodus of talent and startups out of the US.
This would probably be a good thing. Right now the internet is way too US driven and focused. A more balanced, global distribution of talent would be far more beneficial.
I agree. And it might ease some of the pricing issue too. There are many plans for cloud services outside the US but there's usually a lack of know-how and competitive functionality/pricing.
A current example:
Clio, a cloud provider for lawyers, recently started to offer a server location in Ireland in order to comply with European privacy laws [1]. The price, however, is about 60% higher than in the US …
Price comparison:
US = 49 USD/month = about 36 EUR [2]
EU = 49 GBP/month = about 58 EUR [3]
Just personal preference I'm guessing. They probably went live US side with Linode, and their DevOps is probably already built around Linode's API/environment, so it was easier to just spin up new gear in Linode EU vs AWS EU.
At first glance it may seem that way, but I don't see how the privacy and human rights situation is all that different in, say, Europe and it's generally worse in places like India or China. Whenever I see European startup communities at work, they're really at their best when they're emulating US startup culture. Removing US influence may lead to an even more stagnant ecosystem in the long run.
I moved to Ireland a year ago (I realize they generally acquiesce to anything the US wants, but hey, it's a start) because I wanted to try something different and was tired of feeling guilty about the foreign policy my taxes were supporting. The startup culture here is excellent and the cost of living lower than SF (everything costs more except rent, which is about 25% what it would be in SF). You also don't have an entire city being run over by rich 25 year olds driving out the artists and people who make a city enjoyable.
Oh, to lend some more context - being an English-speaking country in Europe with an immigration policy that doesn't consist of "gtfo unless you're a billionaire" added to its appeal as well.
Dublin; there's some activity in Cork as well but since it's already a bit isolated from the rest of Europe being near a major airport is a pretty big factor in its favor, at least for me.
To be honest, I doubt that exodus will ever come. Americans don't seem to care that much about privacy or their rights, this is demonstrated weekly in the news. I feel bad saying that, but it does seem to be the case when people trade freedom for "security".
