[mc32]

Ah, ok. I recall a conversation with a SEAsian refugee who mentioned something like neighborhood committees and such where neighbors were organized to actively spy on such things which could be regarded as anti-state/anti-party.

[sixtofour]

Sounds like East Germany.

[noduerme]

I've lived in Vietnam and can confirm this is still policy. All over the country, every area (say, 6-8 city blocks from what I could tell) has a "Block warden" who's in charge of making sure everyone's political views are in line within their sphere. Most of these guys drive mercedes-benzes now and their kids spend most of the day playing videogames and blasting bad music off oversized speakers from the middle of the block warden's compound -- which itself is usually a large modern house with very high walls. No one sees what goes on in there, but the music starts blasting off those speakers at 6:30 AM sharp, six days a week, and if you're Vietnamese your ass is out of bed and washing the street in front of your shop by 7.

Google is trying to establish an online version of this kind of total collective obedience. And this, right after they admit to the German gov't that they've shared European data collected off their cloud servers with the US intelligence services? Seriously? Screw them to hell.