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Comment by nolok | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure "a group of people has an inconvenience that doesn't apply to the a majority of people, we should change it for everyone" is much better. It happens and I support it when it's specific kind of issues that's worth protecting the minority even if costly (discrimination, fondamental freedoms,...) but for things like that...

It's the same principle as when some want to filter the entire internet to protect a small minority from reaching content that could shock them (often porn). It feels less like tyranny of the majority and more like democracy. Being in the minority in a vote should not be confused with being abused by the majority like you do, because that dilutes the recognition for cases where it really happens.

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It's not like people will suffer when their house suddenly gets a proper address.

On the other hand, people already suffer because they have problems with their deliveries, visitors etc.

People didn't suffer either with opt-out internet filters schemes that we saw in some anglo saxon countries, they can just opt-out ! On the other hand, people already suffer because they have kids getting access to porn, etc ...

The problem is not always the direct change, but the infrastructure and public mindset change. Add a filter, and now adding things to it is much easier. Germany for better or worse is very much privacy minded, even more so that us neighbors (and compared to the US or asian countries we're very privacy minded). They basically have no google maps coverage because of it, for exemple. So a change in that direction will impact them.

> Germany for better or worse is very much privacy minded

Are you kidding me? 6 German police officers were taken out of their job because they have threatened an ethnic Turk, attorney. They have threatened her new born baby by his name while even none of her neighborhoods know the babie's name. And how did they found that the police did it? Apparently few hours ago the police officers have queried her and her babie's name from their database.

So, while Germans think that they mind their privacy they have no idea that they live in none private country. Germany is not really different from other European countries in term of privacy. Who cares about your shopping habits? Will someone going to point you a gun for shopping or for not using DNT header in your web browser or for using a credit card? Police have all citizens' addresses, names, phone numbers, relatives. And police have guns to point at citizens and arrest them just because. Can you hide your name and address from German police? No.

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/frankfurt-seda-basay-y...

https://www.hukukihaber.net/dunyadan/turk-avukata-tehditleri...

Yes they did.

  It's not like people will suffer
  when their house suddenly gets a 
  proper address.

The 'suffering' is the loss of their cultural distinctiveness.

Like if you told the French they should all start speaking english to better interact with the international business community, or if you told programmers they should start wearing dress shirts so they look like professionals.

It's not even remotely drastic as that. It's a street addressing system. This whole situation seems like a proxy war for something else.

Why do you find it hard to believe that people could become attached to and invested in their town's unusual street numbering system?

People become deeply attached to all kinds of arbitrary things, e.g. the particular shade of red used by their favorite sports team, or the exact shape of the cookies their family has baked for Christmas every year.

I agree that it's not remotely as drastic as telling the French they have to speak English, but it seems fairly comparable to telling programmers they have to wear dress shirts.

> Like if you told the French they should all start speaking english to better interact with the international business community, or if you told programmers they should start wearing dress shirts so they look like professionals.

Both of those are also true btw.

They may be, but is it worth it or necessary?

For the French, I don't know, but you could argue that it would improve the French economy I suppose.

However, for programmers, I don't see the benefit: programmers do not have any trouble these days finding jobs, and in fact are in high demand regardless of how they dress. Dressing more "professionally" doesn't seem like it would actually help them any, so why bother?

I guess those people could continue to use their old addressing scheme, however sooner or later their mail may no longer be delivered to them.

> It feels less like tyranny of the majority and more like democracy.

Those are the same concept. One is just supposed to be good while the other is bad.

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