I believe this may be very helpful. If enough Europeans stop / limit using Google services, then Google's stock price on Wall Street will see the consequences.
Google has powerful lobbyists on Capitol Hill, and they will use their influence to change the playing field such that they either don't have to cooperate as much, or can be more transparent about the cooperation. Either option, or both, would help polish the tarnish on Google's reputation due to this.
Perhaps this is wishful thinking ... kinda like believing Europeans, Asians, etc will build their own Google-replacement ... but it's small a reason for hope, all the same.
It's not just Google. It's anything running Apple OSes (iPhones/iPads), Microsoft OSes, Google OSes (Android!), gmail users, AWS, any company _hosted_ on AWS, but, most importantly, any US company built _in the future_.
We've now learned that any US-based company can be secretly forced to spy on their users at the behest of the military. And then in a stroke of genius, Obama went on tv to explain that it's not cause for alarm because it only targets foreigners.
Because we have FISA, because we have secret courts, because we have PATRIOT NSLs, because we have gag orders, every single American internet company now has a permanent credibility problem in the global market.
I'd like Obama to explain why any business anywhere has any reason to trust US could services now. Right, they don't. If they're smart they stay the hell away from any US servers.
It's a well known fact that the NSA/CIA are not just hunting for terrorists. Their normal day to day agenda is industrial espionage as well.
I guess spider oak is still ok thanks to client side encryption. Other than that - no thanks.
Google has powerful lobbyists on Capitol Hill, and they will use their influence to change the playing field such that they either don't have to cooperate as much, or can be more transparent about the cooperation. Either option, or both, would help polish the tarnish on Google's reputation due to this.
Perhaps this is wishful thinking ... kinda like believing Europeans, Asians, etc will build their own Google-replacement ... but it's small a reason for hope, all the same.