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> unveiled a domestic and international surveillance and spying program which is unparalleled in all of history China
by chinesempire 6y ago
> unveiled a domestic and international surveillance and spying program which is unparalleled in all of history
China
- kdtsh 6y agoWe could argue about this, or we could agree to disagree and just acknowledge that the US' domestic and international spying programmes are some of the most far-reaching and intrusive in history.
- chinesempire 6y agoThe problem with this definitions is not that they are wrong, they aren't, the problem is consequences. DDR was much smaller than US and his program was more limited than any actual one, given the advancements in technology of the past decades. And yet, STASI was much more effective and disruptive than many other similar projects before and after. At its peak STASI employed around 2% of the entire East Germany population. With the information gathered and the prevention of external influences, they could literally convince people that they were living in the best World possible using just a tiny wall and propaganda. Those who denied it, doubted about it, had contacts with western entities or were suspected of conspiring against the SED, were incapacitated, it doesn't imply they were killed on the spot, but they were made harmless, arrested, hospitalized, institutionalized in psychiatric wards or "disappeared" in concentration camps.