It has been that way for a long time.
A German friend of mine went on a school exchange year to California in the late 80s and, coming from the highly regulated Germany, was astounded how many of the freedoms he took for granted he had to give up.
The irony is that the German regulations often guarantee what you can do, not stop you from doing things.
For example, at 16, he could legally drink and smoke and buy alcohol and cigarettes, he got to America and he wasn't allowed to drink and he wasn't allowed to smoke at school.
He got picked up by the police for walking around the guest family's neighbourhood near Beverly Hills. The police told him that having people walking on the street made the residents nervous! He was advised to go out the back of the guest family's house into the woods. A couple of days later, a police officer mounted on a horse suddenly appeared in front of him on a woodland trail and said, "oh, you must be the German exchange student!"
Biting the hand that feeds IT
