In the Netherlands, a news article was published on 15 September 2020 about the leaked list of a Chinese data company, which includes 700 prominent Dutch people. In total there were 2.4 million people on the list.

It is striking how the emphasis is placed on China as a country that would be behind this instead of just a Chinese company. The panic and scare tactics that are sown by the way the article is set up is also very striking.

But what everyone overlooks is the harsh reality actually described in that article. Namely that the sources of the data company are all major American tech / data giants. Companies behind facebook, twitter, Linkedin of which we have proof that they work with the NSA and where data of billions of people is stored, processed and profiled.

And all those people who participate in these social networks are cooperating despite knowing their privacy is being violated. When it is too late and the accumulated information is misused by the people who have access to it, the effect will have consequences for generations.

So you shouldn’t be surprised that with the data from the NSA, people around the world are already being subtly pressured to direct decision-making processes that benefit stakeholders.