PATHS TO DIGITAL MODERNITY 375
ence for civil society because it demonstrated that the political use of the
computer and information technology could be subjected to democratic
checks and balances. In the end, data protection rights were strength-
ened considerably in West Germany at the federal and state levels, and
the corresponding laws have become increasingly diff erentiated. Simul-
taneously, watch groups emerged within civil society that kept critical
tabs on the further development of electronic data processing. The Chaos
Computer Club (CCC), which was founded in West Berlin in 1981, is a
good example of such a group. With spectacular initiatives designed to
expose the major security holes in computer networks, the CCC sharp-
ened public awareness of data security and data protection issues. The
history of this club and its changing function is one of the major desid-
erata in the otherwise very detailed research that has been done on new
social movements.^86
In the state socialist countries, the respective state security and intel-
ligence services also sought to perfect their extensive surveillance over
the population through the use of electronic data processing. The Stasi’s
surveillance eff orts have already attracted scholarly attention. Yet it was
not a topic of conversation in the controlled public sphere of the GDR,
although it was discussed throughout society, especially in the circles of
the oppositional milieus, youth cultures, and art scenes that were most
aff ected by it. Unlike in the West, concerns about the potential use of mod-
ern computer technology in collecting mass data did not surface in East.
Apparently, the assumption was made at the time that these eff orts were
kept in check by the tech lag in the East. In fact, however, the MfS began
using computers for surveillance on a large scale in the 1970s, and even
used Siemens computer technology.^87 In addition, the Stasi was able to in-
tercept data transmissions to infi ltrate many sensitive Western computer
networks, including those of the INPOL police system, companies such as
Siemens, and even the Bundespatentamt (Federal Patent Offi ce).^88
The need to integrate very diff erent data sets created some major
problems over the course of reunifi cation. For example, the pension ben-
efi t information of the GDR was stored in a central mainframe in Leipzig.
Trying to combine this data with the completely diff erent kind of data
sets that were used in West Germany proved to be a challenge, and one
that could have had very real material consequences for citizens in the
East. Moreover, over four million new social security numbers had to be
assigned in a short period of time in order to cover just the pensioners
in the GDR.^89 As of yet, there has been no research done on the digital
remapping of East German information and the integration of these data
sets, whether it be for resident registration offi ces, saving accounts, or
the intelligence agencies.