The temptation of mass surveillance

Photo by the blowup on Unsplash

Dear Reader,

I’ve just returned to Berlin from a trip to visit family in the UK, the country of my birth. That visit reminded me of how German I’ve become when it comes to questions of privacy.

The “reverse culture shock” hit me at the British border, where the police officer asked several inconsequential questions about whether I’m “over to see my folks.” What business is it of yours, I thought, before replying with a curt “yes.”

That line of questioning would constitute a serious social transgression in Germany, where people would immediately feel like they were being interrogated without due grounds for suspicion.

In Britain, it is hard to tell whether such questions constitute deliberate observation, or whether the officer was simply indulging in the national past-time of polite small talk.

Once I’d made it past the border police, I was overwhelmed by the level of public surveillance.

At train stations I was reminded to snitch on anyone who looked suspicio…