NSA Fallout Costs U.S.-Based Companies Even More Revenue

If Obama is truly serious about fixing the U.S. economy he'd take that executive order pen of his and do something about the NSA's electronic eavesdropping programs. He seems to wave it around confidently for everything except those things that truly matter to the American people.

Just this week, Microsoft went on record to further state its unhappiness in how slow the U.S. government is to react to growing worldwide disgust at doing business with U.S.-based companies.

At the GigaOM Structure Conference, Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith said:

The longer we wait or the less we do the worse the problem becomes. We are seeing other governments consider new procurement rules – procurement rules that could effectively freeze out U.S. based companies.

Microsoft is leading the charge on taking on the U.S. government, but other companies have joined the fight. One of those companies, Verizon, was handed a pink slip from the German government this week. The Associated Press reports that Verizon has provided Internet services to a number of German government departments for years, but due to the Snowden revelations cancelled the contract, stating that:

There are indications that Verizon is legally required to provide certain things to the NSA, and that's one of the reasons the cooperation with Verizon won't continue.

Germany also has an active criminal probe into espionage operations by the NSA after evidence that the organization was spying specifically on Prime Minister Andrea Merkel.

In a statement at the Brookings Institution recently, Microsoft's Brad Smith also stated that,

By the end of this decade there will be 50 billion devices connected to the Internet of Things around the world. This issue is going to become more important, not less.

Based on evidence that the current administration is intent on doing nothing about this quickly, it's definitely going to get worse for U.S.-based companies trying to provide modern services to overseas customers. With the lowest approval ratings in almost every category, the sitting President seems to be more concerned about personal legacy and policy than using the last years to construct positive change that the next administration can use to build for the future.

For companies to thrive under this model of destruction, they may need to consider moving operations outside of U.S. jurisdiction. In the past, companies have moved part of their operations outside the U.S. to help cut manufacturing costs, while keeping corporate offices in the U.S. That could very well change in the future. U.S.-based companies may be forced to move corporate operations elsewhere to be able to provide services globally.