The dark secrets of a surveillance state

[BikerDude]

It's pretty interesting in retrospect to look at how they used surveillance to keep people in check.

Tour the deep dark world of the East German state security agency known as Stasi. Uniquely powerful at spying on its citizens, until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the Stasi masterminded a system of surveillance and psychological pressure that kept the country under control for decades. Hubertus Knabe studies the Stasi ? and was spied on by them. He shares stunning details from the fall of a surveillance state, and shows how easy it was for neighbor to turn on neighbor.

http://www.ted.com/talks/hubertus_knabe_the_dark_secrets_of_a_surveillance_state

[LotsaBadKarma]

And if you don't trust your neighbor you certainly will not be there to help him in a time of crisis. So the surveillance ends up isolating each of us rather than bringing us together. And they've convinced us that it's in our own best interest.

Brilliant, absolutely fucking brilliant. We are dealing with minds that exceed our own on every level in this regard.

We are sorely screwed.

[meekon5]

Have you seen The Lives of Others, very good film on the level the Stasi used to keep information on it's citizens.

[DigitalBuddha]

Have you seen The Lives of Others, very good film on the level the Stasi used to keep information on it's citizens.

Over the line! Fuckin' nihilists!