Lately, a German colleague shared with me why they are so focused on privacy. For the dark events that happened in Germany from 1933 to the end of WW2, they used data from a variety of sources that were available at that time. There’s a serious fear (now more than ever in the past) that if an authoritarian regime rose again it would have access to so much data to persecute minorities or even people with different opinions that it would seriously be a nightmare. This puts often overlooked initiatives like GDPR in a completely different light to me.

You don't have to look to the past to see that in action, ICE and the DOJ have used social media and every government database they can to do this.

> This puts often overlooked initiatives like GDPR in a completely different light to me.

The problem with initiatives like GDPR is that they don't actually solve the problem. If you're worried about the SS then a law that tries to tell companies what they can do with some data is totally useless, because the thing you need is for the companies to not have the data.

If Apple can run code as root on every iPhone then when the SS comes, the SS can run code as root on every iPhone. They go to Apple and put a gun to their head, or infiltrate the company with operatives, and then do what they please with the central control the company already holds.

To prevent that you need to change the architecture of the systems in popular use to remove central chokepoints that authoritarians could use for censorship and surveillance. But none of those initiatives have accomplished that, and most of them don't even attempt it, even though that's the thing you'd need them to do.

You need "no chokepoints" to be the pre-existing default when the baddies come so that when they try to change it, people can already see why they shouldn't and refuse to give up the existing systems without it. Instead of needing to develop those systems only after the need arises, and then needing to do it under a hostile regime which is meanwhile using the existing systems to commit atrocities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennkarte

The desire to do that by people in power is always there. It's just latent until new tech comes along that can achieve it.

Interesting that this is the example they've used, as they have a more recent one which was much closer to an oppressive techno-surveillance state (Stasi).

However, I'm not sure how the abuses perpetrated by totalitarian regimes map to regulation such as GDPR, which primarily constrains private entities. Compared to their US counterparts, European governments are not all that more hesitant to use spyware, tap phones, etc. In the same vein, Flock doesn't hold a candle to pervasive camera-based surveillance in the UK.

Don't get me wrong, I think the US should have federal privacy legislation and there's a lot of bad stuff going on in the private sector today, but it's a bit more complicated than "GDPR is there to stop the Nazis". It probably fits better into the general culture of distrusting and regulating private enterprise (maybe for good reasons).

Sorry for being ignorant from the other side. What else did you thought GDPR and privacy in general is about, if not to prevent powerful entities from (automatically) messing with your life?

GDPR is a great initiative. However it doesn’t prevent big tech from buying politicians, manipulating people or collecting massive data from individuals.