Comment by tgsovlerkhgsel
1 day ago
+1 to this! I wonder if some of the horror in it (the constant threat of the Stasi and its implications) translates well to non-German audiences. In case you're wondering about Germany's strict privacy laws - this is part of why they exist.
Probably this is an also big component in the notorious German preference for cash over cards.
That was caused by interchange fees, and it has disappeared now.
It’s still a thing in some areas from direct experience recently. Hell it’s still a thing with former East Germans I know in the UK. And it’s not about interchange fees - it’s about purchase surveillance.
My ex partner wouldn’t even allow location services on her phone to put exif data in photos.
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Are you german? Most of my german friends tell me it is because after the experiences of nazism and comunism (in the GDR), most germans value their privacy a lot.
The havoc that finding out your family and friends spied on you for benefits, can not be overstated. How deeply anti social and lonely such a divided and conquered socialist utopian society is can not be expressed in words, and yet it can.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesbeauftragter_f%C3%BCr_di...
Nowadays we don't even need family and friends to spy on you for benefits; websites and apps do it for advertising revenue.
I wonder if future generations will wonder why being spied on and monitored was even noteworthy, let alone a cause for concern.
> Germany's strict privacy laws
Not anymore.
No, on the contrary. Germany is a big proponent of chatcontrol.
These are two very different things. Significant parts of the German government and many German members of the European Parliament are proponents of Chat Control. The general population, however, still has a strong desire for privacy and a deep fear of surveillance and data collection, shaped by historical experiences with two dictatorships (the Nazi era and the GDR).
That said, there is a substantial disconnect between the substantive preferences of the voting population and the actual policies and decisions of the parties they elect. This is partly because promises like “internal security” gain much more traction in times of growing uncertainty and global instability, while only a relatively small portion of the population fully thinks through, or is willing to think through, the consequences and concrete legislative changes behind those promises.
Nevertheless, looking at both public attitudes and court rulings, it is still fair to say that data protection in Germany, even compared to other EU countries, currently enjoys a particularly high status.
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