Deutschland: Das Land der Dichter, Denker und Paranoiden.
The article is a bit overblown, we are not really that scared. Actually most people don't care or even understand the implications. But privacy is a very big and deep-rooted thing.
These German microwave shenanigans are around for quite some time, but i haven't met one single person that microwaved ids or passports.
Since you're referring to the Dichter & Denker trope: that was originally about Germany having no copyright in the 18th century, so access to the works of the poets and philosophs was affordable and widespread.
So it doesn't refer to lots of poets and philosophs (Germany was probably below average) but to the wide distribution of their writing.
(my favorite anecdote from that time: Goethe, at some point, cited his own works. Since he didn't lug all that stuff around he worked from a copy he bought. Unfortunately it was an unauthorized copy containing modifications, which he didn't notice - and copied into his citation)
The article is a bit overblown, we are not really that scared. Actually most people don't care or even understand the implications. But privacy is a very big and deep-rooted thing.
These German microwave shenanigans are around for quite some time, but i haven't met one single person that microwaved ids or passports.