Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by zeroclicks 885 days ago
The author of this article probably hasn't traveled to many places before.

> Could Berlin's values of privacy and freedom from photography be eroded by the increasing pressure in other cities for professionals to have an active online presence, I wondered?

Berlin professionals have the same pressure of those in other cities. After all, Berlin is the largest city in Europe, the capital of the largest economy in Europe, and also "Europe's tech capital".

> Indeed, according to Masur, privacy concerns within Germany are getting more in line with other countries.

What other countries? In the Islamic world, taking photographs of people without consent is considered "spying"[1](Sauidi Arabia bans cell phone cameras). That's 1/3 of the world's population, but pick another place at random and snapping pictures without consent is likely to attract the police, the military, or another armed person demanding your photos be deleted.

1: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6133475

3 comments

Your article about the Saudi ban on cell phone cameras is from 2004, and the ban didn’t last long. I don’t believe there have been phone camera restrictions in Saudi Arabia for a while.
Berlin is the 8th biggest city in Europe (6th biggest in the EU).
Thanks for nitpicking, but according to wikipedia it is the largest[1]. Regardless, the idea that Berlin is a haven for folks that don't care about their career is a little bizarre to imagine.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_the_European...

It is actually both. 6th if it comes to urban zone or larger urban zone, but first by population. In the EU, not whole Europe.
Largest cities

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_cities_by_pop...

Istanbul Turkey 15,907,951

Moscow. Russia 13,104,177

London UK 8,926,568

St PetersRussia 5,600,044

Berlin Germany 3,755,251

Madrid Spain 3,280,782

Kyiv Ukraine 2,952,301

Rome Italy 2,748,109

Paris France 2,102,650

Berlin is not the largest city in europe, not even in the top three, not even the biggest in the EU.
And it’s not “Europe's tech capital" either.