Scent sample collection by putting a dust cloth under the chair of someone who was interrogated (as it is described in the article) was shown in the German movie "The Lives of Others" [0]. Fast forward to ~4:30min if you are not interested in the rest of the film clip:<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkRxvEjprBM" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkRxvEjprBM</a> (has English subtitles)<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_Others" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_Others</a>
If we destroyed all the spy records of the US on its citizens (a la Snowden revelations), would anyone in the future view that as a loss?<p>We have a turn-key dictatorship, the key hasn’t been turned yet. A pack of bureaucrats will have to get new jobs.<p>Perhaps the rest of us can agree that we should tear this surveillance state apart before it is fully weaponized against us.
"German police have been accused of using Stasi methods"<p>I'm sure the Stasi also used fingerprints, yet no-one is asking German police to give those up. Perhaps the goals, rather than methods, are what should be under greater scrutiny - going after dissidents is not a thing of the past, they're just not called such:<p><i>Germany’s existing Network Enforcement Act (aka the NetzDG law) came into force in the country in 2017, putting an obligation on social network platforms to remote hate speech within set deadlines as tight as 24 hours for easy cases — with fines of up to €50M should they fail to comply.</i> - <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/19/germany-tightens-online-hate-speech-rules-to-make-platforms-send-reports-straight-to-the-feds/" rel="nofollow">https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/19/germany-tightens-online-ha...</a><p><i>Germany's domestic intelligence agency hopes to place the entire Alternative for Germany party under surveillance.</i> - <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/monitoring-the-right-wing-german-officials-seek-to-turn-up-the-heat-on-the-afd-a-c44c0a38-ee6b-4dc1-ac94-9fbee59b706f" rel="nofollow">https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/monitoring-the-...</a>