Apple pulls data protection tool after UK government security row
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj54eq4vejoIt's been degrading in the US too. Xitter is not at all a free speech platform and that technocrat says whatever he has to for popularity until he can chip your brain. Cutting a few million in wasteful government spending doesn't make up for how he loves China and deeply desires their level of autocracy.
America's laws have somehow held in-spite of presidents that seek to crush it (yes, both of them, both sides. They're the same. Stop believing the headlines and read the damn articles). Although defamation law has been weaponized to neuter some forms of speech and reporting.
There is an internal push by the CIA in America to further destabilize it and cause radical elements in the fake-left and fake-right to call for more authoritarianism. It's not a great nation, but sadly it is the last bastion of true liberty .. and it's eroding every day from every side.
In 20 years there might not be anywhere to flee to. Fight for your country. They can't put every British person in prison if everyone decided to tell the truth.
Whenever someone writes "just" in a case like this I can tell there's a complicated, ugly legal case that's being grossly misrepresented, and quite possibly one where no responsible journalist is reporting because of child privacy issues/laws.
The problem with both British and American surveillance state authoritarianism is it's hugely popular with the public when used against the ""wrong"" people. You might have "free speech" (subject to qualifications such as Comstock and their modern day equivalents) but you're much, much less likely to be shot and killed by the police - or a random stranger - in the UK.
and the US invented technical crypto backdoors
Being American has it's perks, but privacy isn't one of them.
Of course, that assumes you're fluent in the local languages. Hoe goed spreekt u Nederlands?
I made a jump to Germany in 2018, and, thanks to learning a new language, have had a front-row seat to how flat the real Dunning Kruger effect really is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dunning–Kruger_Effect2.sv...
Dubai, even as an international hub where you may be able to get by with English — لا تضيع وقتك باستخدام دولينجو لتعلم اللغة العربية، لقد حاولت خلال الوباء وما زلت لا أعرف الأبجدية — is much more authoritarian than the UK. Similar for Singapore.
If you're monolingual, and privacy is your concern, then the US is an improvement over Australia.
But also consider Canada and Ireland.
Ireland isn't in Five Eyes, Canada is, but also Canada is slightly further away from the madness of Trump etc. than any company still inside the USA.
I'm not even sure what's going to happen with the US federal government given that DOGE cannot meet its stated goals even by deleting all discretionary-budget federal agencies like the NSA, CIA, FBI, all branches of the armed forces, etc. but on the other hand the private sector is busy doing a huge volume of spying anyway in the name of selling adverts… chaos is impossible to predict, and you should want to predict things at least a few years out if you're going to the trouble of relocating.