netzpolitik oder policy womp

The German government is releasing a new and comprehensive strategy aimed to make legislation and governance into a framework sufficient to keep pace with connectivity and interconnectedness.
As this commentator writing for Spiegel characterises the agenda (auf Deutsch) a bit like the impossible Christmas wish-list of a precocious child—or the goals, as-stated, of a civic-minded beauty-pageant contestant, what with calls and promises of a high-speed internet connection for all Germans, better protection of intellectual-property, enhanced security for potential vulnerable infrastructure (power-grids and other utilities), support for start-up ventures, smart-homes, smart-roads, etc.

All these ideas are excellent, but I believe a little naïve—not that bold dreaming is something we ought to be timid about—as the law and budget as it stands and it is imagined is inadequate to address all these possibilities, fulfillments and disappointments. There is some language in the programme, speaking of let-downs, however, that seems long overdue and a mandate that can and ought to be met. There is a more timely reporting requirement for breaches that compromise users’ information, plus a sort of minimum liability insurance for companies who would presume to handle such volumes of data so they might not leave the gate unhitched and bigger penalties if they do. This is not creating an information cartel of just a few big corporations that have and hold the dossiers of everyone, but rather—I think—a disincentive for morbid curiosity and records never to be retired and destroyed.

ta-ra-ra boom-de-ay

I certainly hope there is not another massive volcanic eruption in Iceland that will disrupt air-transportation, like in years past.
There is little solace in such disasters, even when far away from civilisation, but it turned out to be a big consolation for us when Eyjafjallajökull (pronounced Kajagoogoo in my head) erupted, and anticipating endless problems with flying, it inspired us to get Old Lady. The volcano in question this time is called Bárðarbunga, which is easier to say and sounds pretty melodious too. It wouldn’t sound really that close to “cowabunga,” owing to the th- sound—which entered American English as the trademark greeting of Chief Thunderthud on the Howdy Doody Show in the 1950s.

buried treasure or spandau ballet

The Local (Germany's English daily) reports that the chief of the German Socialist Unity Party (die Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, the SED dissolved after the reunification of the country and recast as the Party of Democratic Socialism with a cadet coalition of liberal political parties) is demanding that the granite colossal—the head at least, of Vladimir Lenin join an ensemble of other displaced statues in the Spandau Citadel.
The party chief insists that this chapter in German history ought to be acknowledged as any other, and is requesting that the head be retrieved from the spot in Köpenick Forest on Berlin’s outskirts, where it was interred after being dismantled with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The majestic marbles that would keep the giant head company are the likenesses of prestigious Germans that Kaiser Wilhelm II commissioned and displayed along the Siegesallee (Victory Avenue) at the axis of the city’s Tiergarten district. The statues and Siegessäule (the iconic Winged Victory) were relocated during WWII because they were in the way of architect Albert Speer’s designs for Welthauptstadt Germania to another park of the park—where the column remains today. Allied powers feared that the statues could incite imperialist sympathies and wanted to toss them on one of the numerous rubble heaps of Berlin. A museum curator convinced the authorities however to bury the statues on the grounds of Schloss Bellevue—the residence of today’s Bundespräsident. The horde was rediscovered in 1979 and eventually made their way to Spandau Citadel, which will become a showcase and proper home for these statues and others, telling the city’s history through monuments and memorials due to open to the public early next year.

ıstihbarat

Although America has had the good-sense to refrain from comment so far over revelations that the German intelligence agency eavesdropped—though accidentally, of course, but I imaging that the business of spying is always a bit clingy no matter what one's ambitions are—on the US secretaries of State. I wager, however, that the same mute referees are ecstatic that the Turkish government, also apparently overheard as part of a dragnet, are very vocal about their dissatisfaction. Though such behaviour should not come as any measure of surprise for the capable or the willing, Turkey is demanding an explanation for these actions, as if any Germany could deliver any honest accounting of peer-pressure—aside from all the fears adjudged as clear and present. What do you think?  Was the action, response or both what was badgered, goaded-on?