These days, we are seeing a strong push for enhanced government surveillance over digital communication, from Australia and the United Kingdom to Ireland, Germany and Spain, whether by imposing a universal digital identification requirement for accessing social media, or spying on citizens’ private chats.
The leading reason being offered for enhanced surveillance and data collection is the protection of children from online harms, such as pornography and social media addiction. But given recent experiences of shameless government overreach rationalised by “solidarity” and protection from disease, any move by government to claim enhanced powers of surveillance over our personal data and communications should be viewed with suspicion.
Sometimes governments leverage citizens’ deepest fears and most noble aspirations to convince them to expand State prerogatives at the expense of personal liberties. This is not a hypothesis, but a historical reality, evidenced in a vivid way by the UK’s psych-op operation to guilt citizens into taking the shot, and the UK’s Health Secretary boasting in private correspondence that announcing a new, more virulent variant of Covid would “frighten the pants off everyone.”...<<<<Read More>>>...
