It's Official: NSA Spying Is Hurting the US Tech Economy

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/28778-its-official-nsa-spying-is-hurting-the-us-tech-economy

A new report confirmed key brands, including Cisco, Apple, Intel, and McAfee -- among others -- have been dropped from the Chinese government's list of authorized brands, a Reuters report said Wednesday.

The number of approved foreign technology brands fell by a third, based on an analysis of the procurement list. Less than half of those companies with security products remain on the list.

Although a number of reasons were cited, domestic companies were said to offer "more product guarantees" than overseas rivals in the wake of the Edward Snowden leaks. Some reports have attempted to pin a multi-billion dollar figure on the impact of the leaks.

In reality, the figure could be incalculable.

The report confirms what many US technology companies have been saying for the past year: the activities by the NSA are harming their businesses in crucial growth markets, including China.

The Chinese government's procurement list changes coincided with a series of high profile leaks that showed the US government have been on an international mass surveillance spree, as well as hacking expeditions into technology companies, governments, and the personal cellphones of world leaders.

Concerned about backdoors implanted by the NSA, those revelations sparked a change in Chinese policy by forcing Western technology companies to hand over their source code for inspection. That led to an outcry in the capital by politicians who in the not-so-distant past accused Chinese companies of doing exactly the same thing.