13 - Big Brother Is Watching Us: Who Is Watching Big Brother?

Summary

THE THEME OF ubiquitous surveillance is a staple of dystopian SF and it holds a special significance in Germany where the history of eavesdropping and covert observation employed by the Gestapo and the Stasi has led to the right to privacy enshrined in the Grundgesetz (Basic Law, Germany's constitution, specifically Articles 2, 5, 10, and 13). These categorical guarantees have been qualified in recent years, though, in response to the rising threat level from domestic and international terrorism. In spite of the Europäische Datenschutz-Grundverordnung (General Data Protection Regulation, 2016), which caused every website to reassuringly declare that “We value your privacy,” Germans continue to be skeptical about its effectiveness and are wary about the promises of “smart living.”

One of the most visible critics of what she considers a creeping curtailment of civil rights is the novelist Juli Zeh. Zeh, who holds a doctorate in international law, is widely known as an outspoken public intellectual, writing on a broad range of topics; she is also a regular guest on talk shows. Her novel Corpus Delicti. Ein Prozess (2009), initially written for and performed on stage in 2007, imagines Germany in the year 2057 when a health dictatorship has been established with Die METHODE (The METHOD, also the title of the English translation, 2014) as official state philosophy replacing the previous democratic system. The state compels its citizens to live as healthily as possible to prevent illnesses, while unhealthy lifestyles (smoking, sex with incompatible partners, eating junk food, not exercising) are punished as crimes against the collective.

Since the METHOD is declared infallible, and human nature is understood as weak, the state introduces a complex system of surveillance in order to ensure compliance—ranging from regular medical checkups and sensors and monitors in every home (including sensors in the toilets to test urine for sugar and meters to measure whether the residents have done the required amount of physical exercise) to incentives for collectives in apartment blocks in order to snoop on each other and report any infringements to the authorities.