[nybble41]

The error here is the assumption that only foreign entities are hostile. A "foreign hostile entity" may have lots of information and malicious intent, but they lack legal jurisdiction and the ability to take open, direct action where I live. The most worrisome threat is that they manage to uncover a common interest with some domestic entity and share what they learned—and from that perspective domestic snooping just cuts out the middleman. I'd rather keep the entities doing the snooping and the ones with influence over me as widely separated as possible.

[stjohnswarts]

Is it your hobby/part time job to defend China and dump on the USA? Just curious, looking back through your comment history and all.

[nybble41]

If you had actually looked back through my comment history you would have seen that I never defended China or claimed that the USA was worse. I am not a fan of governments in general but I will freely acknowledge that the US government is far from the worst example. My comment was purely about domestic snooping vs. foreign from the perspective of the one being spied upon—if one lives in China the roles will obviously be reversed, and in that case one should prefer a foreign entity like the USA gathering intel over the domestic Chinese equivalents. Either could wish you ill but the domestic power will almost always be the more immediate threat. (Not being spied upon at all would be ideal, of course.)