In this installment of Today in Technology,
we head to a former East German prison to see for ourselves
what this infamous symbol of the Cold War era can teach us today
about the importance of protecting people's privacy.
>> This Stasi prison is a chilling example of what can
happen when personal data falls into the wrong hands.
[MUSIC]
>> So you came to this prison what year?
>> 1968.
>> And you were 25 years old?
>> 21st of August.
>> You remember the date?
>> Yeah.
Now it was stopped by the occupation of the armies of.
[MUSIC]
I contacted France to discuss what to do, how to protest
about these violation of international rights.
They decided to leaflets.
>> And you were brought here because you handed out
these leaflets.
>> Yeah.
They had so much people in the nightly streets.
>> Watching.
[MUSIC]
I was sentenced for two and a half year imprisonment.
[MUSIC]
No look outside.
No meeting of any other prisoner.
Nothing to do, nothing to read, nothing to write.
That is really torture, that is isolation torture.
>> When people around the world think about the way Germans
feel about privacy.
Is it rooted in some way in their understanding of what
happened in this place?
>> If you look at how people came here,
most of them were actually arrested for
crimes that they committed in total privacy.
Just that knowledge that in her past,
data in the wrong hands, have done something like this.
That's very similar to the fear that you
find now with this strong revelations.
For example,
among people when it comes to electronic civilians.
>> Is this part of the lesson that we need to remember about
what it means for
us to have a responsibility to protect people's privacy?
>> Yeah, I think very much.
I mean, every time when we think about privacy and
about collecting data, I think it's important to remember, one,
that we're operating around the world.
And that you really never know where governments change and
if that government then has access to that data that was
collected about people, about their political views.
That can cause all sorts of problems to that person.
[MUSIC]
>> In the Christmas eve in 69, I was released.
>> What is it that you want people to remember of this
place?
>> Remind of, mostly young visitors,
how happy they should feel to grow up and
to live in the democracy and then lost it.
And they should, I hope I can make them understand,
they should do something to keep it.
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