> "Confiscating devices" sounds like such an ordinary, routine thing, but it is so incredibly, profoundly invasive and would upend my life as much as being throw in jail for a week, only it would cost me a lot more. The bar should be ridiculously high for that kind of government intrusion.
In Germany it is quite normal nowadays. The legislation for protecting your own home has been weakened over the course of a decade to a point where you have to expect it if you share anything online that is not 100% clean, especially if it goes against current administration.
In the article it sounds like they argue that this is to prevent another Nazi Germany, but it sounds a lot more like fashism what they try to achieve here. You can happily spread misinformation and hate about politicians of non-established parties. You might get sued under civil law, but your home is certainly not invaded, you get arrest and your stuff confiscated.
Another case that exemplifies this is "Pimmelgate" where a Twitter user said to a Andy Grote (senator of Hamburg at that time iirc) "you are such a dick/cunt"* (Du bist so 1 Pimmel) and found himself in the same situation as the guy in this article.
Hate speech legislation is especially stringently interpreted when it comes to higher officials.
*: I'd say the harshness of the insult is in between those words. It's slightly more than nothing.
In Germany it is quite normal nowadays. The legislation for protecting your own home has been weakened over the course of a decade to a point where you have to expect it if you share anything online that is not 100% clean, especially if it goes against current administration.
In the article it sounds like they argue that this is to prevent another Nazi Germany, but it sounds a lot more like fashism what they try to achieve here. You can happily spread misinformation and hate about politicians of non-established parties. You might get sued under civil law, but your home is certainly not invaded, you get arrest and your stuff confiscated.
Another case that exemplifies this is "Pimmelgate" where a Twitter user said to a Andy Grote (senator of Hamburg at that time iirc) "you are such a dick/cunt"* (Du bist so 1 Pimmel) and found himself in the same situation as the guy in this article.
Hate speech legislation is especially stringently interpreted when it comes to higher officials.
*: I'd say the harshness of the insult is in between those words. It's slightly more than nothing.