#SmartCities #SurveillanceTech #FacialRecognition #PrivacyIntrusion #SocialCreditSystems #NeuroSurveillanceNext
Fascinating and in-depth conversation with Ethan Nash of TOTTNews from Brisbane, Australia on the state of surveillance, technological takeover, and citizen activism and pushback in Australia today, as smart city concepts involving facial recognition, national ids, and remote sensing technologies roll out across Australia.
“Australia has become almost a Surveillance State, entirely,” reports Ethan with about 85 to 86 pieces o legislation passed in the last 15 years since 9/11 covering a whole network of Intel capabilities including, as in the US and West, forcing Internet providers to build backdoors in apps to surveil communications.
Smart cities have been completed in various regions across Australia in Darwin-- where the Lord Mayor openly condemned concern from citizens as “conspiracy theory”--Newcastle, Perth, Melbourne—with facial recognition cameras, remote sensing technologies, and open data—and privacy is in danger of being snuffed-out.
This smart city infrastructure, Ethan reports, is being rolled out explicitly as filling Sustainable Goal 11 on the UN's Agenda 21 or 2030, as noted on government web sites such as this one: https://www.bitre.gov.au/sdg/index.aspx.
Already, passports have been replaced with facial recognition; currency to buy tickets on trains and planes is being replaced with smart ids on smart phones and watches; biometrics and national recognition databases are being developed. Truly, Ethan notes, Australia has become the “tip of the spear” offering a model for how industrialized nations are embracing surveillance wholesale.
Then there is the ominous threat of further and absolute surveillance coming down the pike as neurosurveillance makes its entrance, and remote neural monitoring, discussed in this article here:
https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/information-warfare-and-neuro-weaponry/
Some questions we looked at were: What are the implications for privacy when we all can be surveilled and pigeonholed to such an extent?
Looking across at the repressive social credit system now operative in China, how will the West, how will industrialized nations like Australia react to such technology and paradigms—and what are the ways in which people will finally wake up and push back, or is it likely that full spectrum surveillance will roll over and consume all of us? Given this Brave New World scenario we are headed toward, how can and how should people respond? What can people do, and are people doing anything?
We talked about measures for optimism as 5G activists make headway in many cities around the world, as people continue to wake up and subscribe to alternative news sites such as TOTTNews, and as more and more people begin to start taking local action in their cities and towns in pushback against biometric surveillance.
Please stay tuned for more conversations on this subject as we share news and analyses on surveillance technologies and paradigms around the world.
Visit Ethan Nash's news site, TOTTNews here:
https://tottnews.com/
Visit Ramola D's news site, The Everyday Concerned Citizen here:
https://everydayconcerned.net
Some articles and features referred to or kept in mind during our conversation
Article by South Australian researcher mentioning neuroscience and national security—dual use neurotech – for emergent neuro surveillance presumably: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/information-warfare-and-neuro-weaponry
Smart Cities Week Australia:
https://australia2019.smartcitiesweek.com/
https://whatphone.com.au/guide/australian-smart-cities …
https://www.technologyreview.com/f/614469/france-plans-to-use-facial-recognition-to-let-citizens-access-government-services/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/24/chinas-social-credit-system-bans-millions-travelling/ …
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/surveillance-technology-biometrics …
Feature News on ABC Australia: Exposing China's Digital Dystopian Dictatorship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eViswN602_k
New US sanctions on China's facial recognition HR violations:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2019/10/08/trump-lands-crushing-new-blow-on-chinas-facial-recognition-unicorns/#3a57da8e283a
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