#392: Thursday off, Olympic bid, police lax with data
Should men sit or stand?
Hey 20 Percent,
You’ll recall the data breach at public transport operator BVG earlier this month. Around 180,000 BVG customers received letters saying sensitive data had been hoovered up by hackers. The data was actually stolen from the servers of Richard Scholz GmbH, a Berlin company in the direct marketing business (junk mail) since 1923. Maybe it’s time to axe that contract, BVG.
I did not receive a letter even though I have a BVG account. And besides, I needn’t worry: According to BVG, no passwords or bank details were in the breach. Phew.
But then, last Friday, the “password checkup” feature in Chrome password manager told me my email and BVG password were found in a breach data.
I put my password into the Have I Been Pwned password checker.
Ouch. Maybe BVG or Richard Scholz weren’t to blame for this. Rather, my ancient, overused BVG password just sucks. I changed it. So should you.
Meanwhile, the wildly popular Deutschland-Ticket is also under attack. According to tech blog Heise, criminals across the country are buying the tickets with stolen bank details and re-selling them on dodgy websites. It turns out direct debit isn’t the most secure payment method.
Be careful out there.
Maurice
☀️Save the date: July 17th. We’re putting on a summer party with our friends at The Next Day Berlin! Details to follow.
Berlin + 4 Olympic bid
This afternoon (Tuesday), mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) alongside the heads of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony, present their plans to attract the Summer Olympics to the capital and those four states. Weirdly, they remain undecided about which year they’re going to bid for. I’m a bit of an Olympics Grinch, so I was pleased to hear that the crew over at NOlympia is launching a campaign for a citizen’s referendum against the Olympics being held in Berlin: “We believe that the overwhelming majority will reject the Olympic Games in Berlin.” They argue that Paris spent €9 billion on the Olympics that could have been invested in things that benefit normal people.
Zelenskyy in town
Don’t be in Mitte on Wednesday if you can help it. With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visiting to meet both Chancellor Friedrich Merz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, expect a huge police presence and disruption in and around the government quarter until the evening. The Stadtbahn (the central East-West train line) could see delays and cancellations. BER airport and the A113 and A100 autobahns will also be affected.
Police criticised for sloppy data protection
Berlin’s Data Protection Officer has criticised the Berlin police for its use of 11 surveillance cameras outside their cop shop at Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg. “Video surveillance is carried out without a sufficient legal basis and disproportionately interferes with the fundamental rights of passers-by and road users,” commented Meike Kamp, while presenting her 2024 Data Protection Report. The cameras watch over the street which passes under the Zentrum Kreuzberg building in which the police station is housed. Kamp says the cameras have only recorded a handful of minor crimes, mostly vandalism. The report also hightlighted 50 cases last year in which officers abused their access to police data bases for private purposes, for example, when a cop accessed information about his ex-girlfriend and her family.
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A few spots are still open for June — but not for long.
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🗣️Merz openly criticizes Israel on Gaza war
🚘Ex-VW managers convicted of fraud in Dieselgate case
🎞️New film based on Hitler’s food tasters
Events this week, curated by The Next Day Berlin
🎶 Kiezsalon Opening
Fri-Sat, 30–31.05, 6 pm. Schloss Britz, Alt-Britz 73. Tickets: €10.65/day.
A gateway into Berlin’s experimental scene in a dreamy neoclassical courtyard. Friday: Smallpipes wonder Brìghde Chaimbeul, jazz innovator Cassie Kinoshi, and ex-Swans duo Dana Schechter & Paul Wallfisch. Saturday: Ambient rituals by Ann Annie, Alice Hebborn with Nao Momitani, and Merope feat. Shahzad Ismaily.
🪩 LAST RESORT
Friday, 30.05, 11 pm–6 am. Panke, Gerichtstrasse 23. Tickets: €15.80-€24.95.
A layered club night, from Zutzut’s futuristic baile to Simo Cell’s atmospheric selections, with Dengue Dengue Dengue and NEGRACONDA bridging bass-heavy, off-kilter rhythms and mutant techno.
🤖 AI (Ancestral Immediacies): The Collective Brain
Fri-Sat, 30–31.05. HKW, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10. Free entry
A two-day dive into AI, neuroscience and collective consciousness. Talks, performances, DJ sets and installations rethink intelligence beyond the individual mind. With Lewis Gordon, Interspecifics, Ida Momennejad & more.
🌞Roda de Feijoada #51
Sunday, 01.06, 2 pm – 10 pm. MAAYA, Revaler Str. 99. Tickets: €15–17 - €3 OFF with the code THENEXTDAY
A joyful open-air with live samba, feijoada (vegan too!), DJ JC, and a kids’ area. New location, same spirit with music, drinks and food at MAAYA’s lush backyard. Kids under 11 enter free.
Factoid
German men are the champions of Sitzpinkeln, acccording to a 2023 YouGov survey of 13 countries: 62% said they sit down “every time” or “most times” that they pee, ahead of Sweden and Denmark. Britain, Poland and Mexico came last.
The problem with sitting down is that if even one person doesn’t do it, the whole system breaks down. Sitting down would only work if it were enforced by the toilet police!