In an earlier article, I mentioned Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower who revealed to the world that the NSA was spying on its own citizens through various technological platforms in 2013.
It shocked the world…but what was the result? We all knew that the government could be watching us, (remember, the conspiracy theorists were right about this one) but in the end the average citizen didn’t seem to care. Did you?
Perhaps it was the resigning to the fact that there wasn’t much you could do about it, short of disconnecting. Technological platforms are woven into our lives.
I mentioned this earlier as a possible limited hangout, that is a controlled leak of partial information. To be honest, I haven’t dived deeply into information surrounding that, so I don’t feel qualified to talk about it outside of it being a possibility.
One interesting point is the difference between the media treatment of Snowden as compared to Julian Assange of WikiLeaks. Snowden is living in Russia but does interviews with the likes of Joe Rogan and John Oliver. Meanwhile, Assange (an Australian citizen) is facing extradition to the USA to be tried for violating the US Espionage Act by releasing classified security information. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/assange-extradition-hearing-underway-london-200224082053667.html
I mention this all to say that the powers-that-be want greater surveillance (not to mention less transparency). Also recall that I said that this virus starting in China gave an example to the world of how to act, an example that the power-hungry would be jealous of.
Here’s an article from February 2018 in The Atlantic discussing China. “The
country is racing to become the first to implement a pervasive system of
algorithmic surveillance. Harnessing advances in artificial intelligence and
data mining and storage to construct detailed profiles on all citizens, China’s
communist party-state is developing a “citizen score” to incentivize “good”
behavior. A vast accompanying network of surveillance cameras will constantly
monitor citizens’ movements, purportedly to reduce crime and terrorism. While
the expanding Orwellian eye may improve “public safety,” it poses a chilling
new threat to civil liberties in a country that already has one of the most
oppressive and controlling governments in the world.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/china-surveillance/552203/
There’s been much talk about how China rolled out their social credit score which was revealed in vivid detail the modern-day Twilight Zone like series, Black Mirror. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/2017/12/15/black-mirror-coming-true-china-rating-affects-home-transport/
For all this, you can read the information two ways. There is the utopian outlook. Everything is done for the greater safety. Technology is used to enhance life for the good of the people.
Then there is the dystopian outlook. Everything is done for power, control and to further erode liberties, of course under the Trojan horse of doing good. (If it’s not abundantly clear, this is the view I take because of the widespread evidence of corruption in economics, politics, medicine that has been covered thus far.)
You can see how these two viewpoints are often used in the news. If it is here is it good. If it’s in the boogeyman countries such as China or Russia these actions are totalitarian. Funny how that works.
Power-hungry people have been jealous of China’s government control for quite some time. So now watch how this is rolling out in various places around the world in response to the coronavirus.
It Italy they used social media to track quarantining. “Ghost Data, a research group in Italy and the US, collected more than half a million Instagram posts in March, targeting regions in Italy where residents were supposed to be on lockdown. It provided those images and videos to LogoGrab, an image recognition company that can automatically identify people and places. The company found at least 33,120 people violated Italy’s quarantine orders.” https://www.cnet.com/news/governments-could-track-covid-19-lockdowns-through-social-media-posts/
It’s not just social media. Your phone has geo-location data always on. “The Guardian has learned that a senior official at GSMA, an international standard-setting body for the mobile phone industry, held discussions with at least one company that is capable of tracking individuals globally through their mobile devices, and discussed the possible creation of a global data-sharing system.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/mobile-phone-industry-explores-worldwide-tracking-of-users-coronavirus
A stronger seizure of power is happening in Israel. Notice how the use of tech goes along with reducing liberties. “Netanyahu and his surrogates have shut down the court system, approved the use of sophisticated phone-surveillance technology on the general public and temporarily suspended the activities of parliament. While Netanyahu has defended the moves as extraordinary steps in extraordinary times, his opponents accuse him of undermining Israel’s democratic foundations in a desperate bid to cement his grip on power and derail a looming criminal trial after coming up short in parliamentary elections this month.” https://apnews.com/9023e2a54c5d5b6b28969292cd55aeba
This is happening in the USA too. “The U.S. government is in active talks with Facebook, Google and a wide array of tech companies and health experts about how they can use location data gleaned from Americans’ phones to combat the novel coronavirus, including tracking whether people are keeping one another at safe distances to stem the outbreak.” https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/u-s-government-tech-industry-discussing-ways-to-harness-location-data-to-combat-coronavirus/
So they can track you down. But how will they enforce it? Drones of course! Here’s a video of a drone in Belgium telling people to quarantine.
They couldn’t happen here could it? Well, a police department in southern California has already purchased two Chinese drones to do this. “We have not traditionally mounted speakers to our drones, but … if we need to cover a large area to get an announcement out, or if there were a crowd somewhere that we needed to disperse, we could do it without getting police officers involved,” said Capt. Vern Sallee. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/california-police-to-use-chinese-made-patrol-drones-with-night-vision-cameras-during-coronavirus-lockdown
How about using your phone to ensure you follow the rules? In Poland, they’re using an app to take selfies to enforce quarantine. Otherwise you get a visit from the police. “The app uses geolocation and facial recognition allowing quarantined users to check-in with authorities to confirm they are indeed staying at home as required.” https://news.yahoo.com/selfie-app-keep-track-quarantined-poles-204858799.html
Honestly, this is the stuff that is not that bad, because it gets worse…
Many people still think we’re going to bounce back to normal in a few weeks. Nope. The future holds travel restrictions for some time at least in the more heavily hit areas such as New York. Right now, in some places you need to get the “green light” to travel.
“To get permission to leave China’s coronavirus epicenter and return to his job in Hong Kong, a Chinese banker needed two things: a letter from his company and a green health code from Alipay…The colored QR code, which is already deployed in over 200 cities, is obtained by entering information that includes name, national identity number, current location, recent travel history and ticking a box asking if the person has been in contact with an outpatient or anyone hospitalized in the last 14 days. Once everything is complete, a code is automatically generated. Each code is refreshed at midnight.” https://finance.yahoo.com/news/people-china-green-light-alibaba-091822087.html
That’s in your cellphone. But what if we could make sure that people always have it on them? That’s where under skin sensors come in. “[Biotech company Profusa announced Tuesday that it was initiating a DARPA-funded study to see whether its biosensor that it injects under the skin can help detect the flu up to three weeks early.” https://mashable.com/article/under-the-skin-sensor-flu-pandemic-coronavirus/
And if we’re putting censors in why not just go one step further…invisible ink in vaccinations. “For the people overseeing nationwide vaccination initiatives in developing countries, keeping track of who had which vaccination and when can be a tough task. But researchers from MIT might have a solution: they’ve created an ink that can be safely embedded in the skin alongside the vaccine itself, and it’s only visible using a special smartphone camera app and filter.” https://futurism.com/neoscope/invisible-vaccine-ink-tattoos-kids
They’ve only had success in animals and cadavers so far. But this is coming. Understand what this means. They may not be able to make vaccines mandatory for every single person. But with your phone app or in your skin itself, they’ll be able to deny you traveling without the proper records and authorization.
Again, this all comes other the guise of good. And certainly some of it could be. But do you trust our governments and corporate partners with this kind of power? It’s your call. I do not because of the evidence of past corruption.
Total surveillance of the population allows for total control. Welcome to the high tech version of 1984.
From what I’ve seen this is part of the agenda, whether we like it or not. Better to recognize the truth rather than stick you head in the ground.
And don’t think that these are limited time emergency measures. Once the power is taken, it is never given back.
In a future post I’ll detail how this even brings us closer to the world of pre-crime. Yes, pre-crime. Remember the Tom Cruise movie, Minority Report, based off a short story by Philip K. Dick? Where he was part of a police unit that arrested people before they did anything wrong because they “knew” it would happen? Steps have been laid for that already last year. But there’s more groundwork to cover first.