With the EU once again pushing for mass surveillance under the pretense of "protecting the children" with a catastrophic new idea called "Chat Control", I figured it’s a good moment to dust off our 2009 classic "Old Men With Ballpoint Pens".

Back then, Germany’s minister of family affairs, Ursula von der Leyen, tried to censor the internet under – you guessed it – the pretense of "protecting the children". Thankfully the result was a public outcry which earned here the nickname "Zensursula" – a name that stuck for good reason.

"Old Men With Ballpoint Pens" became our biggest hit – helped by the fact that it was also the only time we ever openly endorsed a political party, the German Pirate Party. They ran with it (literally), spreading the video everywhere they could. Of course, when we released our final album a decade later, exactly 32 of those 80,000 YouTube viewers purchased a copy – proof, once again, that fame is a fickle friend indeed.

Still, the lesson remains: authoritarians, fascists and would-be censors never stop trying to tighten their grip, and every generation has to fight back all over again. The names change, but the bullshit stays the same.

As for me, I'm so very fucking tired fighting. But as long as I can, I will say these things.