> East Germany had a gigantic internal spy apparatus with plenty of power for violence and control etc. but in the end that didn't stop the place from crumbling

> East Germany had a gigantic internal spy apparatus with plenty of power for violence and control etc. but in the end that didn't stop the place from crumbling. All the data ever collected by the East German intelligence apparatus fits on a single USB stick. For every person they wanted to track, more or less, they needed a human agent to do it, several even. Is it unrealistic to tap every phone in a country with an AI that understands what's being said? We already have every monetary transaction monitored, all car plates scanned at every turn, cameras on every corner... East Germany collapsed under its own weight, of course, not as a result of organized rebellion, but the regime could have had even tighter control than it did.