I think since the Snowden revelations it’s pretty clear there is no holds barred in terms of intelligence overreach from practically every angle and state.
What’s happening now, with the tariffs, is really wild (but ultra dumb imho) territory…
Snowden showed that they were willing to compromise allies, but there was still some idea that it was at least plausibly legitimate targets.
Now people are worried that economic espionage or even sabotage are possible. For example, if you are the government of Canada, Snowden annoyed you but you weren’t asking whether Microsoft Update would brick every computer in your government right before a military assault. You probably aren’t thinking that’s highly likely now, either, but you have some intelligence officers analyzing it seriously in a way which would have seemed paranoid a decade ago.
What’s happening now, with the tariffs, is really wild (but ultra dumb imho) territory…