Sign "O" the Times

Here’s what the Surveillance State hath wrought:

Brazil plans to divorce itself from the U.S.-centric Internet over Washington’s widespread online spying, a move that many experts fear will be a potentially dangerous first step toward fracturing a global network built with minimal interference by governments.

President Dilma Rousseff ordered a series of measures aimed at greater Brazilian online independence and security following revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency intercepted her communications, hacked into the state-owned Petrobras oil company’s network and spied on Brazilians who entrusted their personal data to U.S. tech companies such as Facebook and Google.

It always felt unseemly to me when Bill Clinton had Ron Brown flying all over the world, drumming up business overseas for US companies. That’s governor-level stuff, beneath the office of the President, or even his Secretary of Commerce.

But at least Brown was drumming up business, not killing it.