[negidius]

EU governments will be even more subject to pressure from the US. I don't understand how anyone could doubt they will comply with every request from the US government.

The difference is that the current decision makers only have power because other people trust them voluntarily. That makes them accountable, and it means a whistleblower can do much more to limit the damage by leaking the fact they are giving after to US pressure.

A government can impose its will by force, so it is much less accountable and doesn't have to worry about the consequences of its decisions nearly as much. There is nothing I can realistically do if I object to a decision by a government unless I'm a large political donor because governments don't need my consent to operate.

[lmm]

> the current decision makers only have power because other people trust them voluntarily.

Not really. Plenty of EU citizens don't trust Microsoft, Google or Apple. But there's no practical alternative. The government of an individual EU country has a lot more accountability than that.

[negidius]

They can install an open-source OS/browser and ignore Microsoft, Google, and Apple. There is nothing they can realistically do when they don't trust a government.

Governments ultimately derive their power from their ability to impose their will by violence. That makes them inherently less accountable than organizations that you are free to ignore.