Google Street View has mapped millions of miles of roads around the world since 2007; even exaggerate even to space and the ocean away.

Despite this, there is still a noticeable gap in the center of Europe. Well this country Although it has caught the modern age Why not allow this feature?

You may have thought that the first reason that comes to mind is privacy, but the main reason comes close here, but not exactly this.

Contains nudity

As you can see in the photo, Germans feel comfortable both on the beach and in city parks. naked a people who do not hesitate to sunbathe. In fact, it is called FKK (freikörperkultur / free body culture) for people to wander outside of their mother and is identified with the Germans. There are even special campsites for this.

They are not afraid to show their “private places”, but they are afraid to show their “personal information”.

This subtle difference is very important. Protecting their personal information is a very sensitive issue for Germans. They are quite surprised how we or many other nationalities can freely share their names, addresses, friend lists and online purchase histories (unfortunately it is now circulating as our personal information is stolen from individual sites).

According to research published in the Harvard Business Review; an average German, is willing to pay $184 to protect their personal health information. To the average Brit, the confidentiality of this information is only worth $59. For Americans, this value drops to a few digits.

So why are Germans so sensitive to this?

Because the Germans in their recent past suffered the trauma of two totalitarian systems (fascist Third Reich and communist East Germany) and its effects are still observable in society.

When Germany got rid of these totalitarian regimes that used personal information and made it difficult for people. “Nie wieder” (“Never again”) adopted his motto. This is one of the reasons why the first article of the post-war German constitution reads: Human dignity will be inviolable. It is the duty of all government agencies to respect and protect them.

Germany has expanded its definition of privacy over the decades as a result of totalitarian trauma.

• a German state in 1970 world’s first data protection law took it out.
• In 1979, West Germany laid the foundations for data protection legislation, the main purpose of which was to protect the privacy of personal information.
• In the 1980s, citizens came up with the government’s census plan that was detailed enough to get into the privacy of individuals. He sued the government and won. For example, the court prevented German citizens from sharing personal information with a government agency or organization.
• In March 2010, the German Bundesverfassungsgericht; It overturned a law that allowed citizens to store phone and email records for up to six months, deeming it a “serious interference” in their privacy rights.
• In May 2018, the European Union replaced the looser American model. exemplary of the German model It has adopted the General Data Protection Regulation.

It is clear that it will be difficult for Germany to sustain Nie wieder in an increasingly data mining and monetization world.

The wave-by-wave advancement of digitization, He can even break through the German stubbornness in time. Because while they don’t allow Google Street View, they pass a lot of their information on to technology companies like Google and Meta. Google has taken over 90% of the search engine market in Germany and almost half of all Germans have a Facebook account.

Google’s camera cars mapped 8 million kilometers of roads in 39 countries in June 2012; On its 10th anniversary in May 2017, a total of 16 million miles in 83 countries.

Still, not many countries and areas use Google Street View technology. Every country has its own reasons.

In August 2010, Google even announced that it would map the streets of Germany’s 20 largest cities by the end of that year, but public outcry erupted upon hearing the news. Some of Google’s camera cars have been hacked.

The then German Consumer Protection Minister, Ilse Aigner, described Google’s technology as a “private domain violation”. shamelessly trying to collect photos told.

Google blurs faces and license plates to prevent privacy violations.

On special request even for houses. auto fade. Yet the Germans do not seem to agree. Who knows, maybe the younger generations will not be so sensitive to their personal data as long as the totalitarian regime periods are still a long way off. Time will tell that…

In Turkey the situation is as follows:

So what do you think of Google Street View? Everyone can see the front of your house Is it a problem for you too? Or are the Germans exaggerating?

Sources: 1, 2