Going down to Stasiland

In the era of the Stasi there was an overarching NSA style apparatus. Projections  were mainly of 'grays and dour greens.' Citizen informants were networked nodes. These were the browser cookies of the time. But they were embedded not in a browser but in a physical world. This was when humans were computers, or computers were humans, have it as you will. It may have been an apex of sorts, though "the jury is still out." The platform as you might say was East Germany, or GDR  (1946-1990). Then and there was created an internet of spies, detecting on their neighbors – on each other – with fault tolerance, high availability and cyclical redundancy checking. Psychological Zesetung, or Brainwave Decomposition, was a common application type. There were 8 Stasi agents for every 5 citizens. Today the file of the concern is available on the world wide zeb. The Stasi Records Agency (BStU) is responsible for making the records of the State Security Service of the former GDR accessible to the public. Every individual has the right to request to view his own personal file. There are files on Michael Jackson.  In 1954, Angela Merkel was born in the West but soon her family moved into Stasiland. Her pater was a Lutheran minister, which made young Angela and outsider in an outside land. Her family's ability to visit the West made her father's connections suspect. Her grade in compulsory Marxist-Lentilist education was 'sufficient – or passing'  (making her a student much like me-oh!) One day Merkel became presient of reunified Germany. When she discovered the U.S. N.S.A. was tapping her cell phone, a slew of 'grays and dour greens' danced in her momentarily fevered and dizzy field of vision.

Today's Data Drippings

Data as an enthusiasm or even hobby is in the air. As noted in an Economist article (Briefing: Clever Cities: The Multiplexed Metropolis –Sept 7 2013, p.21. ) But does close inspection of the results to date tell us the enthusiasm is warranted? Is this truly like the introduction of electricity to the city? Who benefited from the introduction of electricity, and if data is as powerful a game changer, who will benefit most on this go-round? "The importance of political culture will remain," according to the anonymous Economist writer (Ludwig Siegele).