Dr. Thilo Sarrazin from the German Bundesbank published a bunch of racist theses in his new book “Deutschland schafft sich ab” and is about to be fired by his employer. This posting tries to explain the back-story of this sordid affair.
Archive of posts filed under the Social category.
Kunduz, Georg Klein, and the Fog of War
Colonel Georg Klein, the commanding officer responsible for the Kunduz Air Strike will likely go unpunished, at least legally. This raises questions about the moral compass of a nation at war: doesn’t this never-ending war slowly turn us into a sociopathic “1984″-rish Orwellian society, where human decency and the respect for human lives have lost their universal meaning? Is this never-ending war slowly, but inexorably dehumanizing us as a society?
Brazil and Germany Leading in Google Data Removal Requests
Brazil’s Government issued 291 data removal requests to Google in 2009, followed by Germany (188), India (142), and the United States (123). Regarding Web Search censorship, Germany is leading with 94 requests, followed by Argentina (31), the United States (20) and Brazil (9). However, the “enemies of the Internet” don’t show up in this “hall of shame,” because they have their own censorship infrastructure and don’t need cooperation from Google.
Ethics in the Intelligence Community
Using fake passports, a special ops hit team neutralized a Hamas operative in a Dubai hotel. What’s unethical about this was that they used the identities of unsuspecting real people, putting them in harm’s way. Responsible intelligence agencies wouldn’t have acted so amateurish, and would have used IDs of imaginary, dead, or incarcerated people.
Google leaving China?
Google would rather leave China than continue censoring search results to Chinese users. While that’s a great proof of “don’t be evil”, how comes Google happily censors localized results in various countries, and bows to DMCA-style US censorship without much public protest? What’s REALLY going on between Google and China?
Google’s governmental backdoor
In the wake of the Google-China spat, and the possibility of a (U.S.) government backdoor in Google Mail, should we compile and leak a worldwide list of government spyware to the general public?
German Federal Elections 2009
A somewhat distanced but still interested view on the German Federal Election 2009′s results.
Freedom not Fear 2009
On an anti-surveillance rally, a camera caught police brutality against a peaceful protester on film. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? But who watches the watchers of the watchers?