> Facebook, Google, etc stand to loose a lot if the allegations are true or are believed to be.
Do they? If they had come out and said "yes, the Government has <x, y, z> access because as US companies we are required to comply with their requests", how many people (outside of HN readers) would do anything about it? I'm not saying people wouldn't care, and I'd hope (and do hope, with the current situation) that the reaction would cause changes, I just don't see those changes being "let's move away from Google to... some other company that offers comparable services and that can't be forced by governments to reveal data".
Do they? If they had come out and said "yes, the Government has <x, y, z> access because as US companies we are required to comply with their requests", how many people (outside of HN readers) would do anything about it? I'm not saying people wouldn't care, and I'd hope (and do hope, with the current situation) that the reaction would cause changes, I just don't see those changes being "let's move away from Google to... some other company that offers comparable services and that can't be forced by governments to reveal data".