Britain as a police state

It apparently is already here.

I can’t believe what I’m seeing! While running a facial recognition pilot, one man (understandably imho) covered himself up. The police forced him to show his face (& then fined him for disorderly conduct). This is dangerous & terrifying. pic.twitter.com/QdG2VPGyfE

— Jamie Bartlett (@JamieJBartlett) May 15, 2019

The universal CCTVs in the 1990s were an ominous first step. Live and continual face recognition, all in the name of "public safety" is an ominous next step.

Then creating circumstances by which to charge ordinary citizens for ordinary (and perfectly legal) behavior just to show that they must submit is a chilling harbinger.

The mellifluous but appropriately named Ivan Ballhatchet provides no reassurance. How he can, with a straight face, claim to protect human rights while simultaneously issuing citations against individuals for protecting their own privacy is staggeringly Orwellian. Thanks goodness for the ordinary British citizen, always ready with a brash "Thanks lads" against the donkeys who lead them.

I have always been somewhat of mixed minds about Brexit, seeing points on both sides of the debate. But if it all it does is smash the rising European police state, then more power to it.

Reminds me of Apple's 1984 ad.


Double click to enlarge.

What naive innocence. The problem is not the technology. The problem is the nietzschean will to power.