Portside

'After all, imagine what would happen if we found out that the vast majority of manufactured goods have secret surveillance devices embedded within them that are controlled by the People's Republic of China Ministry of State Security. That'd certainly lead to a rethinking of the basic case for free-ish trade between the U.S. and China. By the same token, there was already a preexisting political controversy in Europe about the possible need for tougher regulation of tech companies' handling of their users' data. A month ago, I would have said that the would-be regulators would being a little bit ridiculous and I think that was also the perception at elite levels in Europe. But it's now clear that there's nothing ridiculous about it. If you're Dutch or German or Italian or Brazilian or Indian you want your government to step in and do something to make sure our government isn't gaining access to all your e-mails and then spreading them around to a sprawling cast of thousands of operatives and contractors.'