Farce of the conventions on privacy
DRACONIAN privacy conventions meant Germans were barred from seeing the full face and name of the Berlin Christmas market attack suspect for most of yesterday.
Despite appeals to help find fugitive Anis Amri, media reports only ran his first name and second initial, and in all pictures his eyes were blacked out. Only after a 100,000 euro bounty was put on his head was his full identity revealed.
The German authorities rarely name anyone wanted or arrested for a crime. This is believed to stem from a backlash against Nazi rule and Stasi control of East Germany.
One German journalist said: ‘Then, the state knew everything about you. As a result, the public now fears it knowing anything about you.’