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Saying the GDR's surveillance program was defeated has the causality wrong. The state was dissolved entirely amidst the Fall of Communism. With unification, the
by vezzy-fnord 11y ago
Saying the GDR's surveillance program was defeated has the causality wrong. The state was dissolved entirely amidst the Fall of Communism. With unification, the main SIGINT, HUMINT and foreign surveillance agency is now the BND.
Unless your proposal is to topple nation states.
- jsnathan 11y agoJust because a government is overthrown doesn't guarantee that the new government uses less repressive policies than the old. But it worked here because the new government had a different vision for life than the old. I am not hoping that violent coups are necessary - or even possible in many places. But the fact is that not all governments around the world are as cordial as the Western ones, and mass surveillance has a terrifying potential in many places around the globe. I do hope that democratic states can avoid these outcomes when enough political will has been gathered to affirm a way of life that values privacy, and a transparent government.