German Stasi 2.0 | The rise and fall of a surveillance machinery

• Surveillance by private or unofficial collaborators of the state
• spying and forwarding of private information
• targeted undermining and
• deprivation of social and financial support of the peer group.

These were well documented methods by the Ministry for State security of the German Democratic Republic (Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, short: Stasi, der DDR) to silence the opposition and secure the regime during this time.

Deutsche Version: https://steemit.com/deutsch/@sarahkl/stasi-2-0-or-der-aufstieg-und-sturz-einer-ueberwachungsmachinerie

In case you are a (german) content creator, for example on platforms like youtube or facebook, and have a tendency to harshly criticize the current (political, social or economical) system, then chances are high that you can actually relate to what I just wrote about these Stasi methods above, can’t you?

The Evolution of Surveillance and Censorship in the 21. Century

As long as there have been power structures in the world there had to be mechanisms in the system to keep the power structures in place. No king, no emperor and no parliament was ever fond of losing their power over their subjects.While the governing class always tried to keep the people’s voice down, the subjects have become more educated and inventures. With every new invention (printing press, telegraph and telephone, computers and the internet) the people who try to govern us need to find new ways to keep “subversive voices” down. Otherwise the system might become fragile, break and they might lose their power.This is a Cat and Mouse Game we are playing since hundreds of years. The authority tries to keep the people down, a new invention arises, the people have a bit more freedom to prosper, and then the authority tries to keep the people down again, which leads them to make new inventions to gain a little bit more freedom once again.

The latest cycle has been the uprising of the internet as a universal tool for communication between people and the continuous growth of interventions into the right of free speech targeted at internet users afterwards. Not only is all data that is traveling on our data highways at some point saved and a target for state surveillance but also active undermining and persecution of people with non-mainstream conform opinions is taking place, especially in Germany.In 2015, a task force has been built in Germany by Minister Maas (Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection) in collaboration with corporations like Facebook, Google and Twitter and several NGOs. One of these NGOs is the Amadeo Antonio Foundation which has been heavily criticized for their chairwoman Anetta Kahane who was an unofficial collaborator at (guess where) the Stasi from 1974 to 1982. This task force worked hard to make “hate speech” vanish from social media networks. They are doing so by actively scanning content with their task force, as well as encouraging citizens to denounce people who “misbehave” by having a different, non-welcome opinion and expressing it openly.

One big problem that we can observe two years after the formation of this (private, independent, non-state) task force is the constant banning of users  and deleting of posts on Facebook and “down flagging” of videos on Youtube which criticize mainstream opinions to a point where content creators’ channels are being deleted permanently. The proclaimed reasons are manifold, the effect is mostly the same: Critics are being censored.The collaboration of big companies with the german government via these NGOs has lead to a poisonous cocktail of denunciation, suppressed anger and fear in social media communities. Free speech has become a luxury for people who support the current corrupted system.

Why did we end up with this mess?

It would be convenient and easy to start a series about blaming different actors in this game, so we don’t need to think about the real reasons why we are in this toxic situation and how we can prevent this misuse of power.In the end, all of these actors I mentioned above are serving exactly their purpose in our current system.The companies are serving their users by connecting them with each other in a very convenient way. The users are happy to use this new technology to connect and communicate in a way they see fit, also in the form of critique against decisions by the authorities. The authorities can’t let their subjects criticize their power structure in a dangerous way, only in a way it suits them. So the NGOs are happy to serve the authorities in keeping the power structure in place and get rewarded for their work in form of money and donations.If you look at it objectively, this system runs pretty smoothly and works well in its area. But your gut feeling might tell you otherwise.

There are several reasons why this system is flawed.

1. The personal freedom of individuals is being restricted for the sake of the system.
2. The constant race between freedom seeking individuals/groups and the freedom restricting upholders of the power structures is a very costly and inefficient one.
3. Due to the costliness of the race a lot of energy is wasted by trying to win, instead of spending this energy to make progress apart from this race.

This system we live in is a maxi-sized hamster wheel that almost nobody notices, and because we are trying to run faster than the one behind us, we don’t really see all the possibilities outside the hamster wheel.

Fighting it won’t work

There are a lot of people all over the world that are trying to fight against the system, they are starting campaigns, demonstrate on the streets or fight on social media for their cause. And they don’t even realise that their fight is a part of the system itself. The harder you fight, the faster the hamster wheel turns. And you are still not free.
The only solution to stop this hassle, to stop this surveillance machinery we are in right now, is to step out of this system. Withdraw yourself from the hand of those that are chasing you in your hamster wheel. If they cannot get you, you can do or say whatever you like.

Steemit is one possibility to step out. Since the content put on the platform cannot be deleted or tampered with by a third party (a corporation, a task force or the authorities) you can actually publish everything you want. And you even have a business model tied to it, so you do not need to fear major financial oppression.
I can only recommend to my fellow content creators to look out for possibilities to publish their content on platforms or networks that are out of reach of anybody who wants to tamper with it, your privacy and your right to free speech.

Always remember: To become free we need to start an Evolution not a Revolution!