First POST: Profanity
BY Micah L. Sifry | Thursday, October 31 2013
The Washington Post exposes the NSA's hacking of Google and Yahoo; the US promises, yet again, to overhaul its FOIA administration; the states start to pass their own new privacy laws; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Greenwald's Day
BY Micah L. Sifry | Monday, October 28 2013
Edward Snowden explains why he chose to reach out to independent journalist Glenn Greenwald; Clay Shirky explains why HealthCare.gov is a management failure; David Karpf shares his doubts about Change.org's new direction; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Agility
BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, October 25 2013
How two Democratic tech gurus would fix HealthCare.gov; how the NSA scandal is threatening US-Europe relations; how a Syrian Kurd living in exile built a mobile tool that alerts subscribers in Syria when a government-fired Scud missile is headed their way; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Touchy
BY Micah L. Sifry | Thursday, October 24 2013
Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers:The NSA scandal is having repercussions now in Germany; How to successfully launched a government website; Why "big government" can't be agile; and much, much more. Read More
A "Merkel-App" for German Voters
BY Miranda Neubauer | Thursday, August 29 2013
Screenshot of the Merkel-App
The German Conservative CDU party has launched a mobile "Merkel-App" a little less than a month before the German election on September 22 and a few days before the race's only televised debate on September 1. Read More
Young and Naive YouTube Questions for German Politicians
BY Miranda Neubauer | Thursday, August 22 2013
German Chancellor-Candidate Peer Steinbrück with Tilo Jung (Jung und Naiv/Facebook)
In the U.S., when politicians want to reach out to younger audiences, they often appear on the Daily Show or the Colbert Report. In the ongoing German campaign season leading up to the September 22 national election, politicians this year have been able to take advantage of a new outlet, inspired by those U.S. examples, to connect with a younger demographic. Since February, freelance German journalist Tilo Jung has gained attention with his YouTube series Jung & Naiv, a play on his name, but a title that also encapsulates the persona he takes on for the series which has the tagline "Politics for the Disinterested." Read More
German Lawmakers Have a New Platform For Their Policies — SimCity
BY Miranda Neubauer | Thursday, July 11 2013
(Facebook/SimCity)
Three German lawmakers may differ when it comes to policy positions, but all of them enjoy computer games. In the run-up to the German national election in September, Electronic Arts has arranged for three German members of the Bundestag to play the German edition of SimCity and will feature their progress online over four weeks. Read More
In Germany, Obama Encounters a Tough Crowd for Defense of Surveillance
BY Miranda Neubauer | Wednesday, June 19 2013
(Digitale Gesellschaft/Flickr)
President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel found themselves in a verbal minefield when it came to an ongoing controversy over U.S. National Security Agency surveillance, which loomed large over Obama's visit to Germany Tuesday and Wednesday. Read More
What German Politicians Think of Google Glass
BY Miranda Neubauer | Tuesday, May 21 2013
Philipp Rösler. Screenshot via @KaiDiekmann on telly.com
The German government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel has not had the easiest relationship with Google. The company launched a public campaign against a law backed by her coalition that would require search engines to pay to show news articles in search results, with mixed results. What's more, Google has long had to navigate the privacy waters in Germany and throughout the European Union. But that has not stopped her federal minister for economics and technology, Philipp Rösler, from giving Google Glass an enthusiastic test run as he leads a delegation of German technology companies and politicians on a trip to Silicon Valley this week as part of German Valley Week. Read More
The Net Neutrality Debate Returns in Germany, Rousing Activists
BY Miranda Neubauer | Tuesday, May 7 2013
Change.org Petition Creator meets with Telekom Executive (Facebook)
Against the backdrop of the German national election campaign, the Berlin Internet conference re:publica opened Monday with organizers calling on Chancellor Angela Merkel to oppose a controversial proposal by phone and Internet provider Deutsche Telekom to effectively eliminate its flat-rate broadband service. Read More