I wrote a 3000-word essay about Eurotechnopanic — or, Google and the German Problem — that just appeared on Zeit Online. A small backstory:

Zeit is my favorite German publication by far. But I did first approach the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung with this piece because the paper has been at the forefront of Germany’s antitechnology movement and I thought they would welcome discussion … and also because the FAZ had published an 8000-word attack on me and I figured 3000 words was a downpayment on equal time. But the FAZ refused to publish it.

So I went to my favorite newspaper, Die Zeit, and its online editor-in-chief, Jochen Wegner, agreed immediately to publish it. I’m honored to be there. These are important issues in Europe that require more balanced discussion.

Here is the start of the essay in English:

I worry about Germany and technology. I fear that protectionism from institutions that have been threatened by the internet — mainly media giants and government — and the perception of a rising tide of technopanic in the culture will lead to bad law, unnecessary regulation, dangerous precedents, and a hostile environment that will make technologists, investors, and partners wary of investing and working in Germany.

I worry, too, about Europe and technology. Germany’s antiprogress movement is spreading to the EU — see its court’s decision creating a so-called right to be forgotten — as well as to members of the EU — see Spain’s link tax.

I worry mostly about damage to the internet, its freedoms and its future, limiting the opportunities an open net presents to anyone anywhere. 3 forces are at work endangering the net: control, protectionism, and technopanic.

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