More German Angst? Thoughts on Facebook, Privacy and Germany.

August 29th, 2011 • Allgemein, Politics, Social

Germany.

This is not just the place I come from. At the same time it is one of the richest tech-cultural repositories for blogging about digital media that I can imagine.

After living in the Netherlands for 15 months now I perceive Germany a bit like the Gallic village from Asterix and Obelix – the famous French cartoon series (that unfortunately only Europeans know). One village against the Roman Empire. Or – as in the case of Germany – one state against the rest of the web.

It’s hard to keep track of all my conversations with clients or colleagues in which we talked about a Global solution for a digital project before someone said ‘and we need a separate solution for Germany’. When talking about Digital Marketing my country of origin is something like the annoying cry baby or the nagging girl friend that is a pain for everyone but that nevertheless requires your full attention. Germany’s Tech-Idiosyncracy coupled with a privacy paranoia makes it happen.

So about two weeks ago it started again. ‘Germany vs. Facebook: Like Button Declared Illegal, Sites Threatened With Fine‘ said the headline of this article. And Mashable found out the Facebook Like is already banned in Germany.

That is of course crap. It is bad tabloid-style journalism.

Fact 1: Germany did not ban Facebook likes
Dear Journalists from Mashable and Silicon Filter: Believe it or not, States consist of institutions. Sometimes many institutions. And quite often far too many institutions (this is the German case). But just because one representative in one instution in a rather small district of Germany THINKS Facebook does not act legally does NOT mean this is the case. In fact it may even be illegal. Especially as Mister Teichert’s claims – if legally correct – would actually legally end the use of almost any type of web service in Germany. Key claim: ‘By using the Facebook service traffic and content data are transferred into the USA and a qualified feedback is sent back to the website owner concerning the web page usage, the so called web analytics.’

Yes, that’s ridiculous. But that’s not the key problem.

Fact 2: This is nothing compared to what’s happening in the EU right now

Directive 95/46/EC aka European Union Data Protection Directive – this does not sound like the stuff that the ordinary Digital Marketer really wants to learn more about. But in fact it will change an awful lot. Since May 25^th all member states of the European Union are expected to enact this new privacy directive, which requires businesses to get explicit permission to track pretty much any type of online user behavior.

This in fact means Marketers have to ask for permission for pretty much any type of digital insight gathering. Cookies? Ask for permission. google Analytics? Well…let’s see….oh, this is getting really complicated. And if you want to check out what a seamless user experience of the future might soon look like you can download the Privacy compliant WordPress Plugin here. Click the Demo button to see the drama unfold.

Fact 3: Europe is currently Tech-Paranoid. And I am afraid Germany is the reason.

Everytime I try to explain the German Privacy Paranoia to colleagues from the U.S. or Canada I have to start in 1945. When Germany was freed from the Nazis, a lot of people thought it might be a good idea to prevent the Germans from becoming Nazis again. A lot of our institutions were formally created to first and foremost serve this goal while informally the same old Nazis led the institutions by the 1970s. One example is the mighty GEZ, an institution that collects the mandatory fee for Germany’s public broadcasting channels ARD and ZDF. The fee for both (pretty dull channels) is as high as a Sky UK subscription. But it is mandatory because both public channels are officially mandated to form the public opinion via ‘good’ TV (stuff that does not make us invade our neighbours again simply because the tunes of German Schlager music paralyze us).

The story of modern German Web Angst actually began 7 years before Tim Barners-Lee set up the first HTTP Server-Client communication. In 1983 a Census in West Germany caused major uproar in the political landscape. Many Germans were highly concerned that the planned Census asked for too much data from every individual citizen without being transparent about the intended use. This was just 15 years after the so-called Generation 68 and a heated discussion about Nuclear Weapons in Germany. Germany’s left and right societal groups and parties struggled for dominance. And Privacy was one of their key topics.

On December 15 1983 Germany’s High Court agreed with the petitioners and defined informational self-control (BVerfGE 65, 1) as a basic law of every German citizen. Things that are today normal in Germany did indeed start back then. From that point on every German had to formally agree if his data were collected. Personal data had to be reduced to the max, made accessible and editable for him. And if anything went wrong he was allowed to demand complete deletion of the data. And yes, it was a good legal decision. A decision that strengthened a democratic society and the individual. Things like that are unthinkable in Germany. And I am happy this is the case.

Privacy – 28 years after the Census

I remember the public debate about the Census, Privacy, and data collection during the 1980s. The mentioned High Court ruling on informational self-control was a caesura in Germany’s legal regulation of data and privacy. And it made the questions about Privacy, data and data collection become part of Political mainstream knowledge. This certainly is a difference to other countries – many Germans read about the dangers of data collection for years or they watched Political talkshows which dealt with the same topic. I am not sure how many of other nations put Privacy so early so high on the agenda.

But: Collecting data became something comparable to killing Kitten in Germany. And that was the sad part of the story. Because the world changed. And data simply became much more important but the role data played also changed significantly from the early 1980s. The institutions which were created to defend the Privacy of Germans did not evolve with it. While the Internet started to become mainstream, while the StudiVZs came and go and (late but not too late) more than 75% of all online-Germans have become Social Networkers our Institutions simply did not follow. The federal institutions of Germany did not update their mental Web Update.

The result? Strange instruction to take down Facebook Like buttons. Threats to take legal action and more. Germany’s mighty federal data privacy offices do what they always did and treat services such as google Analytics or Facebook as if it was 1983. But the world has changed and less and less German’s accept them as the Privacy Robin Hoods that they were back in the days. The world has changed. But they haven’t.

Professor Klaus Schönhoven, one of my favorite tutors in University once said: ‘The first and fundamental goal of any institution is not to become obsolete. An instution wants to stay’. And that’s of course the problem of Germany’s Privacy institutions – if they would have to admit that the world has changed Germans might have to think about reforms. But still scare tactics in Agenda Setting reinforce their position in society and help them to stay relevant. where they are. It won’t be long anymore.
Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Leave a comment. I am very interested to hear what you think.

Tags: Facebook, Germany, Politics, privacy, Society

Trackback URI.