Merkel With Obama: Internet ‘Disruptive’ Force that Has to Be ‘Contained, Managed, and Steered’ by Government, by Oliver JJ Lane.
Speaking at a joint press conference with outgoing American President Barack Obama on his farewell tour, German Chancellor Angela Merkel made chilling remarks about her views on the need for government to control the internet and slammed anti-Islamisation protesters who she accused of hijacking the German spirit for liberty. …
Apparently blaming this rising populism — politics that are popular with voters — on the internet, the German chancellor implied the internet would have to be subject to restrictive censorship laws as were enacted by many European nations to stem the disruptive effect of the printing press. …
Ms. Merkel’s comments on web censorship may be welcomed by many in the traditional mainstream media, whose grip on news narratives has been weakened by digital news services like Breitbart.
In Europe, several hundred years ago, the Church had a monopoly on distributing high quality information — from the pulpit. Then along came the printing press, which broke the monopoly. The Reformation and the Enlightenment followed, which reduced the power of the Church. The last few decades have seen the media with a monopoly on distributing information. But now the Internet has come along.
Good one, Merkel and Obama. Germany is using old Stasi agents to do the suppression:
German Govt Hires Ex-Stasi Agent To Patrol Facebook For ‘Xenophobic’ Comments, by Donna Edmunds in Sep. 2015.
An organisation run by a former Stasi agent has been recruited by the German government to patrol Facebook in a bid to stamp out “xenophobic” comments. Those caught posting material that the government disagrees with are likely to face criminal prosecution. …
Determined to see his fellow Germans embrace their new multicultural homeland, Justice Minister Heiko Maas has decided to crack down on those citizens who criticise the influx, especially those who take to their own private Facebook accounts to do so.
Maas has recruited the help of an organisation – Network Against Nazis (Netz Gegen Nazis, or NAN) – to aid him in his crackdown. NAN was founded by, and according to its website works in partnership with, the Amaedu Antonio Foundation, run by Anetta Kahane, who between 1974 and 1982 worked for the Stasi under the code name ‘Victoria’. …
NAN has already made clear that it supports police patrol of the internet. In one blog post it lists a number of prosecutions for comments made on social media for which people have been fined and prosecuted, including one case in which a man was fined €3,900 for merely ‘liking’ a racist post.
