US Tech Companies Expected To Lose More Than $35 Billion Over NSA Spying

Patrick O'Neill writes: Citing significant sales hits taken by big American firms like Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, Salesforce, Qualcomm, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard, a new report says losses by U.S. tech companies as a result of NSA spying and Snowden's whistleblowing "will likely far exceed" $35 billion. Previously, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation put the estimate lower when it predicted the losses would be felt mostly in the cloud industry. The consequences are being felt more widely and deeply than previously thought, however, so the number keeps rising.

Comments

Disagree with stupid wording

[vikingpower]

as a result of NSA spying and Snowden's whistleblowing

Could anyone give us a sensible and argumented answer as to how a mere whistleblower's can cost the US economy that kind of money ?

Re:ABC Anywhere But China

[johanw]

If I have to choose I would prefer China spying on me than the US. China doesn't care wether I download movies and music, or if I want to smoke something else than tobacco. The US can have me extradicted and put me in jail for made up charges, China much, much less likely.

The NSA fallout here is astonishing

[Qbertino]

The NSA fallout here is astonishing. We're a Type A Agency with me as prime IT guy/consultant for everything and a half-assed Wordpress Pipeline for web projects. We don't do big things but we do quite a few as Agency Project spinnoffs and sideprojects. What strikes me is how many customers specifically ask for hosting on German soil, Google-free tracking and such - even for projects where it shouldn't matter that much. The point is, they don't want to make them selves vulnerable in case of a data-breach. Germany privacy laws are pissy like that.

Bottom line:
The negative press the US IT industry has gotten with NSA and such has a measurable impact - I myself am surprised.

Re:The NSA fallout here is astonishing

[TrimTabTim]

As another in Germany responsible for IT stuff, i can second the fact that we avoid US software, hardware and services at every chance.

Sorry US tech firms: your Industrial Military Complex has fucked you. Go fuck it back and recover your civic freedom while ending your contrived wars.

We might then start trusting you again, but until then, we're doing fine without US products. This oddly US idea that it is at the centre of the universe is delusional. Despite the best efforts of US foreign policy, we're still doing fine out here in the rest of the planet where the majority of humanity lives.

"Result of... Snowden's whistleblowing"?

[Thruen]

as a result of NSA spying and Snowden's whistleblowing

Also, FTA:

The actual losses "will likely far exceed $35 billion," according to the ITIF report, because the entire American tech industry has performed worse than expected as a result of the Snowden leaks.

Serious question. Does the leak actually count as part of the cause? I know if everything were still under wraps the spying might not have cost tech companies anything in lost sales, but it seems unfair to suggest that Snowden is partly responsible for the consequences of what he revealed simply because the consequences MIGHT have been avoided or at least delayed if he hadn't revealed it. I might just be making something out of nothing, it just seems like a dick move to act like it's his fault the way some people make it out to be. Not that it's anything new, but it was almost excusable when this was fresh and people still didn't fully understand the situation, now we've all had enough time to take it in and figure out who the real bad guys are.

Re:ABC Anywhere But China

[overshoot]

Key difference: the Chinese don't, generally speaking, have the power to kick in my door here in the USA (or for that matter in most places outside of China). The USA has, on the other hand, demonstrated both the ability and willingness to vanish people to "black sites" without any regard for what most people would recognize as due process.