The German View

Michael Filtz

From the day he brought home a modem and dialed in to a local BBS in 1991, Michael has been obsessed with technology and how it enables collaboration. He has a master's degree in journalism from UC Berkeley, and has worked in and around the technology start-up scenes in San Francisco and Berlin.

WhatsApp was warned over user data: Now it's sued for 'illegal' Facebook sharing

The row over WhatsApp sharing user data with its parent, Facebook, has just been rekindled in the Berlin courts.

January 31, 2017 by David Meyer in Mobility

Can the law stop fake news and hoax-spreading bots? These politicians think so

With federal elections scheduled for late September in Germany, momentum is building behind using anti-botnet laws against automated social-media accounts that churn out disinformation.

January 24, 2017 by David Meyer in Security

As more refugees reach Germany, here's how its tech community has responded

With asylum seekers struggling to settle into life in Germany, the country's IT community has tried to create technological solutions to help them.

November 20, 2015 by Sara Zaske in Innovation

While US and UK governments oppose encryption, Germany promotes it. Why?

Germany wants to become global encryption leader -- but the reasons for its stance are complex.

October 26, 2015 by Sara Zaske in Security

Under pressure from Germany, Facebook launches hate-speech taskforce

The social network has met with the German justice minister who demanded it delete racist and xenophobic posts.

September 15, 2015 by Sara Zaske in Social Enterprise

Mandatory IT teaching in schools: Pressure grows in Germany

The country's SPD party is calling for computer science to be taught to all German schoolchildren.

September 11, 2015 by Sara Zaske in Government

German app market breaks €1bn mark for the first time

Watching TV may still be the country's favourite leisure pursuit, but things are changing fast.

September 4, 2015 by Sara Zaske in Mobility

As Germany prepares to spend €2.7bn on broadband, vectoring fight breaks out

While a plan by the German government to fill in broadband not-spots has been welcomed, Deutsche Telekom's vectoring strategy hasn't won it any friends.

September 3, 2015 by Sara Zaske in Networking

Europe's dirty hardware secret: 6.2 million tonnes of wasted old kit

According to a new report, around two-thirds of end-of-life hardware in the European Union isn't ending up where it's meant to.

September 2, 2015 by Sara Zaske in Hardware

Daimler's self-driving 18-wheelers ready to take to the autobahn

Don't worry though - these rigs still have a human driver onboard.

August 28, 2015 by Sara Zaske in Innovation

'Work went on, of course': Why the German parliament took itself offline for three days

Following a significant hack attack, the Bundestag's IT systems went dark for an upgrade.

August 28, 2015 by Sara Zaske in Security

Apple loses 'swipe to unlock' patent battle in Germany's top court

Germany's top court for patent disputes agrees that Apple's 'swipe to unlock' feature on iOS devices should never have qualified for a patent.

August 26, 2015 by Liam Tung in Mobility

As first 700MHz auctions begin, is Europe ready to get out of the mobile slow lane?

Germany has fired the starter's gun on Europe's sell off of 700MHz spectrum, but will it be enough to persuade the continent's mobile users to switch to LTE?

August 11, 2015 by Sara Zaske in Networking