The Trust-Busting NSA-Disaster
The Guardian reported this week on the latest NSA mass surveillance revelations, quoting Professor Mayer-Schönberger’s notion that the large US Internet companies, such as Google, Twitter and Facebook have potentially lost what is most valuable and most difficult to regain, the trust of their customers around the world to vigilantly guard their data rather than cooperating with the NSA. If left unaddressed, this might turn into a lasting competitive disadvantage for these firms and for the US digital economy.