[andyl]

Of course they did (do). Just like telcos.

What is amazing is the carelessness that the government shows w.r.t. protecting the interests of American tech firms. NSA could hardly have done more to destroy worldwide trust and credibility in our tech industry.

[eliteraspberrie]

I suppose the grass is greener on the other side. As a Canadian I trust the US tech industry. Everything that has been exposed in the US has been happening here too, and then some. The options are: spend lots of money to be spied on here; spend much less money to be spied on in the US.

[annapurna]

Couldn't agree more.

[Zigurd]

This is what should be the central point of the discussion here. NSA treats it's informants about as badly as some hick county sherriff does to drug snitches. Except the stakes are $100s of billions in revenue from sovereign governments and economic competitors who would prefer not to just bend over for getting back-doored.

The other side of the coin is that the companies collaborating in these programs seem to put themselves at the mercy of the government rather than making products that can be verifiably trusted.