alt Hacker News> Germans (because of course)
I don't know if it's the reason you imply. In the 70s, there were big debates in Germany about privacy and data storage. They spoke of one's data shadow (Datenschatten). I suspect this word comes from that tradition. The reason the word exists would then be the reflection (Verwaltigung) on WW2.
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The Stasi would be the obvious cultural context.
In the US of course the government buys this sort of information legally from corporations.
Yeah, so Germany had a ton of secret police files and of course learned very well what happens when a bunch of people start collecting dossiers.
So yeah, of course they've developed that type of distrust. Americans should have also after the 50-60s paranoia of red scare, black people etc. Instead they just spend a few decades building a anti-social state.
Germany resisted Google Street View until 2023, which was something I thought was very impressive.
Love it, also love how Datenschatten can also imply that it disappears when someone shines light on it
I took the "because of course" to be about having a word for everything - a stereotypical idea about the German language.