Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s Federal Minister of the Interior, announced guidelines for the Internet that might shape the country’s online politics for the next few years. “We spent enough time ignoring the phenomenon of the Internet at first, sometimes underestimating it, sometimes overestimating it, but mainly being awed by it,” said de Maizière. Now should be the time to answer some key questions, for instance how to make use of the globe-spanning freedom offered by the Internet, how to protect individuals’ privacy, and how to keep personal data safe from abuse.