The Stassi were merely collectors of information...taking reports....filing them.
If anyone ever wants some good reading, go Google up the Neptune Hotel and Stassi. This was a East German hotel on the Baltic coast where folks went to relax. Each room had a microphone and the two-man crew would pick and choose rooms to listen in and collect information. 338 rooms.
It is a preoccupation of Germans to always prevent you from doing something that others consider bad behavior. For a lot of Germans, you didn’t have the right to leave a state or region, until the mid-1800s.
“It is a preoccupation of Germans to always prevent you from doing something that others consider bad behavior.”
I think this is where we are today as well.
Funny how a lot of people disappeared once those mere information collectors took them away ...