In the past, surveillance meant installing bugs, monitoring apartments, or recruiting informants. Today, just a few clicks are enough to compromise smartphones or track entire chains of communication. Authoritarian regimes — and sometimes even democracies — around the world use spyware to intimidate journalists, activists, opposition figures, and even political decision-makers.
As part of Berlin Freedom Week, I invited participants to the former Stasi headquarters in Berlin-Lichtenberg to discuss an issue that has accompanied my work in the European Parliament for many years: state surveillance through the illegal use of spyware.
The Campus for Democracy — located on the grounds of the former Stasi headquarters — made it strikingly clear how closely Berlin’s history is linked to the promise of a free and open society. The Campus stands for the reality of surveillance and repression, but also for the courage of those who refused to be intimidated in the GDR.
Understanding the Past: Visit to the Stasi Records Archive
Our visit to the Stasi Records Archive on the Campus for Democracy vividly illustrated just how extensive and systematic the SED regime’s surveillance of people was: 11 kilometres of files, meticulously filled with wiretap transcripts, observation notes, and personal data.
Together with members of the World Liberty Congress — including Natalia Pelevina, Andrei Sannikov, Dr. Leyla Yunus, Carmen Lau, and Carine Kanimba, as well as colleagues from the Citizen Lab — I explored these archives. Many of them have experienced political repression themselves: some were imprisoned by the KGB, others are currently targeted with illegal spyware. Their reactions moved me deeply.
What stood out most was the historical comparison: the enormous amount of paper from back then would amount to barely more than 3 gigabytes of storage today — a fraction of what authoritarian states can collect within minutes through digital surveillance. The scale makes it clear how urgently we need to better protect those affected.
Protection in the Present: Standing Together Against State Surveillance
That is exactly why we organised a meeting in the Alte Mensa between members of the World Liberty Congress, victims of spyware attacks, journalists, spyware experts, human rights organisations, and former GDR dissidents.
The exchange was candid and personal. People who experienced state surveillance in very different contexts shared their stories and the impact on their lives. The afternoon showed how important protected spaces are — places where those affected can meet one another and learn from each other. The parallels between analogue surveillance in the GDR and today’s digital monitoring quickly became apparent.
Panel Discussion “From Stasi to Spyware”
The problem has not disappeared — it has merely evolved. This was the focus of the public panel discussion held in the evening, which we organised as the Campus for Democracy Society together with the Stasi Records Archive, the Robert Havemann Society, and Citizen Lab.
Our guests included former Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records Marianne Birthler, Carine Kanimba, Secretary General of the World Liberty Congress, Prof. Isabella Heuser-Collier from the research network Landscapes of Persecution, John Scott-Railton from Citizen Lab, and Andre Meister from netzpolitik.org. I moderated the discussion, in which we explored from various perspectives how authoritarian surveillance systems operate, what effects they have on those targeted, and how we can protect people from them.
Freedom Is Never a Given
We were united above all in one conviction: protecting those affected is a political responsibility. Illegal surveillance must have no place — neither then nor now. But it is also up to society to critically reflect on our growing dependence on mobile devices and to handle data responsibly. Because freedom is never a given. My thanks go to everyone who shared their experiences with us — for their courage to speak about harm and for their readiness to search for solutions together.
