With the U.S., and its NSA in particular, increasingly in the spotlight over ignoring privacy issues, many companies and individuals are beginning to look to other countries for alternatives. Germany has always been an option, though it’s best to know the differences of each country before diving in.

Apple just revealed Germany’s conflicted attitude to privacy

The fact remains that Germany has built up a solid reputation as a vanguard for its citizens’ privacy. It has some of the harshest data protection rules in the world and was the first to go after Google for picking up Wi-Fi data while collecting imagery for its Street View project. Less well known is that the fine was lowered after Google shared the data with the government.

Switzerland is another country that is well known for its stance on privacy, but even with those measures in place, once your data crosses borders, the rules will change.

Swisscom builds ‘Swiss Cloud’ as spying storm rages

Yet while Swiss privacy laws will govern data stored locally in Switzerland, Swisscom says it is hard to guarantee the security of data that crosses borders, such as information exchanged by employees working in different countries.

It’s not hard to imagine why bookstores generally aren’t too fond of Amazon, but in the end, the bookstores will need to crunch the numbers and decide if they’re willing to ignore customers who are looking to get eBooks instead of physical books.

As for Amazon, this is a smart move to expand the reach of its Kindle readers, as well as a potential trojan horse.

Amazon’s New Kindle Offer Rejected by Indie Bookstores

But to many booksellers, the offer is about as subtle as the Trojan rabbit in Monty Python and The Holy Grail, and they seem just as willing to fling it back in Amazon’s face. Jeremy Ellis, the manager at Brazos Bookstore in Houston, tells us he can see “how a store that feels a need to be in the e-book market could see a Kindle in their store as a benefit.” But ultimately, he calls this notion “a lie.”

“You are putting your competition inside your store and selling their books for them,” he says of stores who embrace the Amazon program. “That ultimately will not lead to a successful business model.”

Sync, BitTorrent’s Server-Less Dropbox Competitor, Hits 1M Active Users, Now Available As An API

With more attention being paid to privacy now that the NSA’s snooping has been made public, it might be an opportunity for a decentralized file sync platform to pounce on. With the announcement of the Sync API, the battle for your files continues.

Sync, a file synchronization service from P2P platform BitTorrent that works as a kind of server-less Dropbox, has picked up some good traction since launching earlier this year, with 1 million active users archiving and synchronizing some 30 petabytes of data on the service to-date (up from 8 petabytes in July). Now BitTorrent is hoping to turn up the volume on that usage: today it’s releasing its first Sync API, which will let developers incorporate the service into their own apps as a way for users to access and share data.

Google Announces Live Video Tutorials Called ‘Helpouts’

YouTube already offers plenty of tutorial videos, but Helpouts takes things one step further and removes another barrier between people. As certain folks and services become more popular on the platform, it’ll be interesting to see if personalized one-on-one Helpouts will be scalable.

Google on Tuesday announced Helpouts, a new tool that connects users via live video chat with experts who can help them with questions about home improvement, cooking or even medical advice. Helpouts serves as a Google-vetted marketplace where approved companies such as Sephora, One Medical and Rosetta Stone can offer their services to interested parties in real-time over live video.

Google’s revamped dialer for Android 4.4 KitKat which pulls information from Google Maps is pretty awesome. The news that Google is going to automatically use your Google+ photo for your caller ID might cause a privacy uproar by some folks though.

Google will show your Google+ photo to Android callers starting early next year

Android 4.4 KitKat debuted last week with a smart new phone dialer that matches incoming calls to businesses with a Google Places listing, but that’s just the start of Google’s plans for caller ID. Early next year the search giant plans to link Google+ profile pictures to mobile phone numbers. Google accounts that have a verified phone number will be automatically opted in and linked to the associated Google+ account. In reality this means that anyone using Android to call, or receive a call, from a number linked to a Google+ account will see a profile image automatically without the need to have contact information stored.

A lot has been made recently over the NSA’s actions, but regardless of which side of the fence you’re on, having the option for secure, encrypted emails is always important. It’s possible that Lavabit wasn’t as secure as it was marketed to be, but that doesn’t mean that we should ignore the importance of encryption, especially in this day and age.

Will we ever have truly private and secure email?

Despite the use of cryptography, Lavabit is also vulnerable to all three just like a conventional (unencrypted) e-mail service. The operator can, at any time, stop averting their eyes, an attacker who compromises the server can log the password a user transmits, and an attacker who can intercept communication to the server can obtain the password as well as the plaintext e-mail.

Even though Lavabit’s security page went on at length about how, in the age of the PATRIOT act, users shouldn’t accept a Privacy Policy as enough to protect them, that is almost exactly what it implemented. The cryptography was nothing more than a lot of overhead and some shorthand for a promise not to peek. Even though it advertised that it “can’t” read your e-mail, what it meant was that it would choose not to.