This concern applies even to taking of photographs and publishing them of the front of one's house.
The media in America are passing this off with a series of lame jokes which do a disservice to our national interest, of course, it places the interest of Barack Obama first which is both his personal priority and the priority of the media.
Hier ebenfalls - u.zw. seit Helmut Schmidt Kanzler war...
[...] it was my personal experience and my observation as well that Americans have no idea of the importance Germans place on privacy. They have extensive "Datenschutz" laws in place protecting the privacy of everyone. This concern applies even to taking of photographs and publishing them of the front of one's house.
I can corroborate your observation, but think that one should view this in a more-differentiated manner.
The Germans used to prize their personal privacy (remember the big noise they used to make about their precious "Bankgeheimnis?"), at least with regards to their expectation of privacy vis-à-vis their neighbors, coworkers, etc. - but less so vis-à-vis Big Gummint.
Of course, there was that brouhaha in the early-1980s about the National Census, but that was in the wake of the Nachrüstung (to counter the SS20s in the East), Waldsterben, the whole Öko Movement, etc., and I so I feel that it's safe to say that it was mostly due to a very successful P.R. campaign of the Far Left. Max and Erika Mustermann wouldn't really have had a problem with it, if they hadn't been goaded into it by the hissy fit that the Greens & Co. were throwing at the time.
Regards,