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Anke und Daniel Domscheit-Berg, Internet Activists

January 31, 2014

Internet activists Anke and Daniel Domscheit-Berg campaign for greater social and political transparency and against state surveillance.

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Talking Germany - Anke und Daniel Domscheit-Berg, Internet Activists

The couple come from very different backgrounds and are now both members of the Pirate Party. She's a former manager and he's the former spokesman of Wikileaks and co-founder of openleaks. Anke and Daniel Domscheit-Berg are this week's guests on Talking Germany.

Born in 1968 in Premnitz in communist East Germany, Anke Domscheit-Berg grew up in a surveillance state. But the fall of the Berlin Wall taught her that people have the power to change society - and that's a belief she shares with her husband, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, from western Germany. Surprisingly, perhaps, they didn't meet at a hacker congress but at a snackbar. He was caught up in world events as spokesman for Wikileaks, the “world's most dangerous website” and Anke was at the height of a successful managerial career. After a falling-out with Julian Assange, Daniel founded openleaks, another platform for whistleblowers, and Anke decided to devote herself to causes she believes in after a couple of burn-outs and hospital stays.She's now a member of the Pirate Party and campaigns for greater political transparency and for more women in top positions. They've been called the "first couple of open source" and these days, they live in Brandenburg.