Slashdot Mirror
The UK's Total Surveillance
Budenny writes "The Register has a story in its ongoing coverage of the UK ID Card story. This one suggests, with links to a weekend news story, that the Prime Minister in waiting has bought the idea that all electronic transactions in the UK should be linked to a central government/police database. Every cash withdrawal, every credit card purchase, ever loyalty card use ... And that data should flow back from the police database to (eg) a loyalty card use. So, for example, not only would the government know what books you were buying, but the bookstore would also know if you had an outstanding speeding ticket!"
'The Observer' is very much the paper of New Labour and many of its journalists and those of its sister 'The Guardian' have impeccable sources within the highest reaches of government. New Labour has a long and dishonourable record of announcing policies through leaks rather than in the House of Commons or in manifestos, so it wouldn't surprise me at all to find that this is an attempt to plant a proposed policy in the public domain.
Hang on to your hats, folks. What it means to be human is going to change radically in the next 50 years - and more along the lines of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World than Orwell's 1984. There could be huge benefits to TIA (see below).
If the UK gouvernment implemented a law where the cops get to kick whomever they please in the tukus for no particular reason, the populace could vote them out.
My point is, who is suffering with this extreme surveilance? Is there an example of some dude with his head in a dark cage with rabid squirrels biting his face? - Made possible by TIA?
Yes, the government is controlling the population through fear. But they have not crossed the line into physically harming the population - far from it - Citizens in the UK and USA live fat and happy lives. That is a big part of the reason the government is able to get away with this stuff. There is no pressing reason for people to resist it.
Benefits of TIA:
- Much less crime
- No locks or keys to slow you down. Think Single Sign On but for real life.
- Accurate accounting/paper trail for everything. This is neccessary for a smooth running civil society. Go to a 3rd world country sometime for an example of the converse.
The typical slashdotter is very "information aware" in their own life. Why shouldn't governments aspire to be the same?
You can always move to Uganda if you dont like it.
No, those are jerks who think they should be able to endanger others lives by speeding. I don't think many of them are in the paranoid, ridiculous, people who consider themselves to be revolting against "teh evil".
Stupidity is like nuclear power, it can be used for good or evil. And you don't want to get any on you.