[tgsovlerkhgsel]

+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.

[elzbardico]

Probably this is an also big component in the notorious German preference for cash over cards.

[immibis]

That was caused by interchange fees, and it has disappeared now.

[dgxyz]

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.

[petre]

> wouldn’t even allow location services on her phone to put exif data in photos

This should be standard practice, I do it as well. Not East German but East European. We had our own Stasi that would terrorize youths for listening to Western music of Radio Free Europe.

[dgxyz]

Yeah everyone suffered that side of things for sure. I'd rather have location recorded but not leaked out to whoever sold me the phone personally. I don't sync any files to the cloud already.

[elzbardico]

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.

[js2]

> I wonder if some of the horror in it (the constant threat of the Stasi and its implications) translates well to non-German audiences.

The film The Lives of Others should give folks a pretty good idea of what the Stasi was.

[assaddayinh]

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...

[0928374082]

Nowadays we don't even need family and friends to spy on you for benefits; websites and apps do it for advertising revenue.

[mitthrowaway2]

I wonder if future generations will wonder why being spied on and monitored was even noteworthy, let alone a cause for concern.

[ekianjo]

> Germany's strict privacy laws

Not anymore.

[wolvoleo]

No, on the contrary. Germany is a big proponent of chatcontrol.

[vlowrian]

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.

[qcnguy]

In practice the average German voter is still supporting the coalition against the AfD despite that the coalition is implementing Soviet-like policies. They talk constantly about banning the most popular political party, for example, and they regularly imprison or fine people for anti-left political opinions. Germans who aren't actively supporting the AfD should feel no sense of moral superiority, there simply isn't anything in the historical context to feel proud of there.

[vlowrian]

> and they regularly imprison or fine people for anti-left political opinions

Do you have any sources to substantiate this claim? In particular, including under which law a prison sentence or fine was imposed for the expression of a constitutionally protected political opinion.

[qcnguy]

Nice try. The German constitution is a poor document and doesn't protect political opinion, so your "constitutionally protected" political opinion caveat just makes it useless. You'd just defend every example with "our constitution allows that" rather than recognizing that it just means the constitution itself is wrong.

Example: the American author CJ Hopkins has been repeatedly prosecuted in Berlin despite being acquitted the first time, because in Germany there's apparently no constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy. His "crime" was criticizing COVID authoritarianism. You're now going to tell me why the German constitution allows this, and incorrectly use that as a moral justification.