How does USG internet snooping overseas jibe with the State Department proclaimed "Internet Freedom"? A question to consider, not yet asked so far as I can tell in the U.S. media, if we Americans wish to carry out a public diplomacy overseas that is not seen as the ultimate expression of U.S. exceptionalism -- our "awesome" (to cite the linguistically unbearable, to some, adjective used by the younger generation and aged hippies) hypocrisy.
Well, at least we naive new-worlders can find consolation in the cynicism of that sybaritic European 17th century nobleman, La Rochefoucauld: "L'hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend a la vertu."
La Rochefoucauld image from
See also "How the U.S. Uses Technology to Mine More Data More Quickly," New York Times.
See also.
UPDATE (June 11)
"Someone should explain — perhaps in French, German and Spanish — why our allies’ e-mails are fair game for the agency’s [NSA] prying eyes." -- Eugene Robinson, "Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks show we need a debate," Washington Post
(June 12)
Prism Exposed: Data Surveillance with Global Implications - Marcel Rosenbach, Holger Stark and Jonathan Stock, Der Spiegel: The American intelligence director and the White House have finally confirmed what insiders have long known: The Obama administration is spying on the entire world. Politicians in Germany are demanding answers.