<html><head></head><body><div style="font-family: Verdana;font-size: 12.0px;"><div>Hey all,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>so I am not Eric Schmidt, and I have no insights into what exact detail is causing outrage, but ...</div>
<div> </div>
<div>... I had often thought that the legal framework in the US gives the US government more than</div>
<div>enough tools to get all the data they want (which, by definition, should only be data they're legally</div>
<div>entitled to) through "regular" channels -- e.g. make a lawful request to the hosting company, </div>
<div>have it checked by the lawyers, and then get the data. I think many people operated under that</div>
<div>assumption -- e.g. "we are based in the US, and that's cool, because the US will follow certain</div>
<div>procedures to get data that is of interest to national security".</div>
<div> </div>
<div>It's therefore not unreasonable to assume that, while people will tap your fiber, these people might</div>
<div>not be the government of the country in which your company is based; that government can make</div>
<div>lawful requests and doesn't have to "steal" (Furious Styles taught me when I was young that if</div>
<div>you're unafraid to ask <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">for something, you won't have to steal - especially if the other side</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">is legally obligated to give this something to you).</span></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, Trebuchet MS" size="2"><span style="line-height: 20.796875px;">So perhaps the cited outrage is caused by the surprise - "you, Brutus" ?</span></font></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Another facet to consider: The way to read the disclosures is, briefly put: If data <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">is </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">*ever* decrypted </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">anywhere </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">outside of the US, the US administration says that this data is </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">fair </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">game to </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">collect (in the </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">pre-Clapper meaning) without any legal oversight. Such an </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">interpretation is </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">upsetting to </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">people that believe that there should be such a thing as an </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">international law that </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">is not </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">just a law of the strongest. A lot of people in Europe are probably </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">of that conviction (which </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">could be </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">both naivety or cynical rationality), and I wouldn't be </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">surprised if Mr Schmidt was, too.</span></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Anyhow. <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">When our community says "what is all the brouhaha about, people should have known", </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">we neglect </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">that we have the hardened worldview of a heroin user that has spent his formative </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">years dealing with, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">being friends with, and working with other heroin users. While this has given</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">us unique insight into human nature, I am not sure whether it gives us the right to call everybody</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">else naive.</span></div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, Trebuchet MS" size="2"><span style="line-height: 20.796875px;">Cheers,</span></font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana, sans-serif, Arial, Trebuchet MS" size="2"><span style="line-height: 20.796875px;">Halvar</span></font></div>
<div>PS: I am taking a break from caffeine this week, so if you have trouble figuring out what point I was making</div>
<div>it is probably because I haven't quite figured that out either.</div></div></body></html>