I'm a New Zealander living in Spain. My circle of acquaintances here seem to be disappointed, frustrated, but not surprised about the recent Prism revelations.

I find myself yearning for a non-USA based alternative to Gmail, Facebook, et al, yet am resigned that the alternatives are currently so inferior that I'll stick with the compromised options.

It will be interesting to see the real effects though. How long will people remember about this? How much will it affect their actual choices? The US "brand" overcame so many scandals, I'm not sure this one will be different.

You bring up an interesting point. I would describe the effect of revelations of this kind on people in Germany as a noticeable jump in one direction on a sentiment continuum, if that makes any sense.

The generation of currently 25 to 40 year olds here have grown up in an extremely US-influenced cultural environment. Imagine that there is this magically interesting and quite progressive place on earth and they broadcast from there on all TV channels all the time. That's what it was like to grow up in the 90s in Germany.

Having grown up with a generally positive view of the US, the Iraq war was a decisive turning point for many people of that (i.e., my) generation. By the time Colin Powell presented his case before the UN, many Germans started to feel betrayed, because it seemed so obvious that an invasion was not the right thing to do (the GOOD GUY became a mere mortal). Older people that were familiar with the political games of the cold war might not have been surprised, but the young people definitely were. Since then for many Germans, the attitude towards the US is quite ambivalent. It is possible that this in some situations leads to unfair highlighting of wrongdoing on part of the US, but I'd say that by and large the effect is primarily that there is now interest in good news and bad news about the US.

Add to that, that many Germans feel extremely uneasy about intelligence gathering in general (think STASI), and you have a reason to assume that, at least in Germany, this thing will linger in the hearts and minds for a while.

It has to be noted, however, that this also means that the reaction in Germany cannot be generalized to the rest of Europe.

What you said could mostly be said about Italy too. Except for the STASI, of course :)

Agreed that this aspect will be interesting to watch. What I find interesting are that people understand "treason" when someone in the intelligence agency turns over state secrets to foreign powers, but since this guy turned over the secrets to "the people" (I know the Guardian isn't an organ of the citizens of the US but sharing this with US citizens was Snowden's stated intent) it does play more like "whistle blower."

Its kind of too bad it came out in an off year for elections though. Next year would have been better in terms of keeping it fresh in peoples minds just before they went to the polls. That said it will be question #1 I'll be asking congressional candidates next year, "What do you intend to do about the overreaching of the Executive Branch and the Intelligence agencies?"

In terms of the public it will probably be forgotten quickly, politicians probably wont be so forgiving.

It might be forgotten but I'm sure it will add to the increasingly negative view the rest of the world has of America. It seemed less negative once the Bush administration ended but things like this could restart the negative opinion.

Here in Belgium it's brushed up as an Obama blunder and an american-only problem that only affects social networks (aka facebook). Online press gigles about pictures of Obama looking at computer screens.

Actually Bjorn Soenens, the "America watcher" for the largest Flemish television station VRT, went out of his way to say that this is not the political responsibility of Obama.

I'm sure this seems strange for Americans reading this, but that's how Belgian state television goes. Bjorn Soenens is somewhere to the left of MSNBC.

My apologies, I should have stated that I was referring to the French speaking[1] on-line press.

[1] Actually, the ink and paper press. But on screen. Mainly.

Dutch press reported very well... on Merkel's reaction.

Our own prime minister however pretends nothing is wrong, despite subsequent leaking from his own intelligence service.

And with a wonderful sense of irony he showed up few hours ago next door to our offices at a Google event focused on, wait for it: convincing the government to make better use of the internet...

But seriously, it is mainstream news here. Looking at the biggest prime time news show as I type this, major item.