Which country has more freedom?

[dead0man]

Country B is more free. 

You don't HAVE to purchase things with a credit card.  You don't HAVE to surf the internet leaving cookies everywhere.  You don't HAVE to do buisness with companies that sell your info to the highest bidder.  In Country A, you HAVE to pay higher taxes and buiseness HAVE to deal with strict govt interference.  You are more free, by far, in country B.

[dead0man]

Country B is more free. 

You don't HAVE to purchase things with a credit card.  You don't HAVE to surf the internet leaving cookies everywhere.  You don't HAVE to do buisness with companies that sell your info to the highest bidder.  In Country A, you HAVE to pay higher taxes and buiseness HAVE to deal with strict govt interference.  You are more free, by far, in country B.

You don't HAVE to... if you're fine with living in a cave.

Are you saying you couldn't live without a credit card in 2007 America?

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I assumed the OP was refering to the US with Country B.

[dead0man]

Country B is more free. 

You don't HAVE to purchase things with a credit card.  You don't HAVE to surf the internet leaving cookies everywhere.  You don't HAVE to do buisness with companies that sell your info to the highest bidder.  In Country A, you HAVE to pay higher taxes and buiseness HAVE to deal with strict govt interference.  You are more free, by far, in country B.

It's not the issue of whether one purchases things or not, but whether credit card companies and corporations have access to your private details and liberally exchange them. Whether it's a government wiretapping you, or a company/business having access to your private details, they're both forms of surveillance, and I'm surprised to see many libertarians missing the connection between the two.

Also, note the description of country A - no wiretapping without a warrant, privacy is taken seriously, etc. I cannot comprehend how someone can regard taxation and relatively high business regulation as intrinsically worse and more intrusive than every individual being constantly monitored by private companies.

Sure, if you want to ignore my point, that makes perfect sense.  Citizens CHOSE who they want to do buisness with.  You don't get to CHOSE whether your country over taxes and over regulates you.  I cannot comprehend how someone can regaurd FORCED taxation and FORCED regulation as less intrusive than the ability to CHOSE where you want to spend your money.

[dead0man]

But as long as the corporations and the govt stays out of each others business you're not forced into doing anything in Country B.  In country B, you're free to opt out of the badness, in country A, you have no choice.  In country B, if you don't like the way company 1 is dealing with your information, you can take your money to company 2 or company 3 or company 103.  If you don't like the way country A is forcing you to jump through hoops just so you can sell a widget you can't just pick your widget factory up and move to country C.  You might not ever build that widget factory in country A in the first place, not when you can build it in country B or C.

I understand that you guys prefer country A.  That's cool.  You feel the need to have elected officials protect you from the evils of business.  That's a totally reasonable way to think about things.  I don't agree with it, but I understand it.  Just don't tell me I'm wrong because I picked the country that forces you do less against your will.  I call that being more free, but I can certainly understand how one could see otherwise.

edit-Corporations can't force you to do something you don't want to do, countries can.

[dead0man]

Neither are free enough, but B is more free.

That would be correct. But what if what the corporations find out about you could be used to prosecute you without a warrant?

But that wasn't the question.  Still B though because you don't HAVE to do business with companies that gather, sell and trade your info.