Washington is using "American-style Stasi methods," said Markus Ferber, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian sister party and member of the European Parliament. "I thought this era had ended when the DDR fell," he said, using the German acronym for the disposed German Democratic Republic.

Got any idea of what he's talking about? I hadn't until looked into it.
I understand why Europeans do, and why they did something about it.

https://www.silverdoctors.com/gold/gold-news/the-rest-of-the-world-is-absolutely-disgusted-with-our-big-brother-spying-methods/