4 ms·

I don't think this is necessarily related to the Third Reich, but more about common sense. How much should a private company with the reach of Facebook and Goog

by jsemrau 14y ago

I don't think this is necessarily related to the Third Reich, but more about common sense. How much should a private company with the reach of Facebook and Google should collect about their users?

CamperBob2 14y ago
As much as any private individual has the right to collect. No more, no less.
- jsemrau 14y ago
  This is called stalking, and I would imagine that there is a law against it.
  - CamperBob2 14y ago
    I'd be surprised if stalking laws don't require specific individual intent. Do you have a citation?
ianstormtaylor 14y ago
Well how do you think common sense is formed? Seems like years of Nazi and Soviet control would push common sense in that direction.
- mjwalshe 14y ago
  So why did west germany and the now unified germany have manditory ID cards then?
- jsemrau 14y ago
  Germany had a green party movement from the early 80s.
  - alexqgb 14y ago
    You mean West Germany. We're talking about East Germany. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany
alexqgb 14y ago
@thedaniel has it exactly right. The really dark shadow looming in German imaginations is the Stasi's. Keep in mind, if you were 18 when the Wall came down, you're only 41 today, so these aren't vague or abstract fears. You actually grew up with the world's most terrifying police force running microphones into your apartment. To give you some idea of how pervasive they really were, the Stasi had one informer per 6.5 people, which is practically a spy in every family. By comparison, the Gestapo employed one secret policeman per 2,000 people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi As the article above notes, "It was widely regarded as one of the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agencies in the world." And no, you don't go from escaping that to ignorant bliss in half a generation.

by jsemrau 14y ago

I don't think this is necessarily related to the Third Reich, but more about common sense. How much should a private company with the reach of Facebook and Google should collect about their users?

CamperBob2 14y ago

As much as any private individual has the right to collect. No more, no less.

jsemrau 14y ago
This is called stalking, and I would imagine that there is a law against it.
- CamperBob2 14y ago
  I'd be surprised if stalking laws don't require specific individual intent. Do you have a citation?

ianstormtaylor 14y ago

Well how do you think common sense is formed? Seems like years of Nazi and Soviet control would push common sense in that direction.

mjwalshe 14y ago
So why did west germany and the now unified germany have manditory ID cards then?
jsemrau 14y ago
Germany had a green party movement from the early 80s.
- alexqgb 14y ago
  You mean West Germany. We're talking about East Germany. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany

alexqgb 14y ago

@thedaniel has it exactly right. The really dark shadow looming in German imaginations is the Stasi's. Keep in mind, if you were 18 when the Wall came down, you're only 41 today, so these aren't vague or abstract fears. You actually grew up with the world's most terrifying police force running microphones into your apartment. To give you some idea of how pervasive they really were, the Stasi had one informer per 6.5 people, which is practically a spy in every family. By comparison, the Gestapo employed one secret policeman per 2,000 people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi As the article above notes, "It was widely regarded as one of the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agencies in the world." And no, you don't go from escaping that to ignorant bliss in half a generation.