East German Stasi vs NSA Data Collection

WASHINGTON DC | Has the Land of the Free become the Land behind the digital Berlin Wall? The government of East Germany collected information on its citizens, as part of maintaining control over the population. Today, the National Security Agency is collecting metadata. Billions of records a day are obtained by the spy agency in order to track relationships between people.

Under communist rule, the government of that nation organized data, in order to determine how people knew one another. They also worked to reveal how close people were to one another. Records were physically written on small pieces of paper, and connections were marked using string or ink. In modern-day America, federal agencies use electronic intercepts, eavesdrop on cell phone communications, and spy on conversations, from satellites miles above the Earth. These technologies are far more efficient than what the East Germans used in their research.

Gary Bruce, of the University of Waterloo and the author of “The Firm: The Inside Story of the Stasi,” said, “Their main surveillance technology was mail, telephone, and informants.” (1)

Much like modern-day surveillance programs, the earlier program targeted many people who held little danger to the regime. A program called IM-vorang spied on a ordinary high school student, in an effort to turn him into an informant.

Other repressive regimes have taken other actions to keep populations under control. In 1961, workers from the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall. During a speech 26 years later, Ronald Reagan laid down a famous challenge. The American leader said “Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” The barricade finally did fall in 1989, due to economic collapse and a government blunder.

Many observers are now comparing government surveillance of communications to a digital version of the Berlin Wall.

The physical wall came down through the actions of hundreds of thousands of people, taking down the Cold War artifact piece-by-piece. As millions of Americans turn against federal spying programs, they are being joined in their fight by internet companies. These corporations are upset their data is being intercepted.

East Germany, and their collection of metadata was only stopped because of citizens yearning for freedom. The American people, and developers of internet services may need to work together to end today’s spying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnIbJoGhrzQ