Bothersome Biometrics
There has been a lot of talk over the past couple of years in regard to the collection and retention of biometric data by authorities for the purposes of identification. In US airports we are asked to submit to retinal and finger print scans. In the UK the government wants to have everyone carry an ID card with their biometric data embedded on it. There is even a move to have people implanted with radio frequency identifying chips (RFID) and for this to become a mandatory practice.
At no point has a decent argument or justification been offered for this invasion of our persons. None of the politicians of lobbyists have given a reason that doesn’t revolve around tenuous paradigms like “preventing terrorism!” or “public safety!” – as though these things are anything but buzz words embodying an engineered zeitgeist. Some of people demanding these measures don’t even give a reason for wanting them, instead use empty quotes like “if you haven’t done anything wrong then you have nothing to fear”, which is more distraction than explanation.
The reason I have been thinking about this particular topic is an article I read in the Evening Herald last Saturday (21/04/07 “Schools go ahead with fingerprinting children scheme”) and the trip I have planned to the states next month.
It bothers me that biometric identification is being introduced without protest into schools. That the mandatory fingerprinting of students is being put in place in order to, ostensibly, reduce truancy is a permeable and distinctly acrid justification for police state tactics. Exposure to such measures in schools only serves to desensitise young people to the strategy of a surveillance state and, if I were more cynical, intended to be viewed as “futuristic” or “progressive” (and therefore “cool” by extension) by the students who may not yet be aware of the wider implications of such a scheme.
We already live in a society where our every move is caught by cameras and CCTV reminiscent of the Orwellian nightmare state of “1984”. Admittedly these devices are not yet all linked to a central source but that is not too far away if the recent “speaking cameras” on test in the UK are anything to go by.
The simple fact is that these “security” measures that the authorities want to introduce are just one more way of knowing what you are up to, one more way to invade the already limited privacy we have and to track your movements and actions at all times.
The only reason a government would wish to have the information is for the purposes of control. To control what you can and cannot do, can and cannot say, can and cannot go. It is an erosion of freedom and the gateway to everything from Gestapo-esque oppression and persistent surveillance to eugenics and social stratification.
When ever you hear “if you aren’t doing anything wrong then you have nothing to fear” you should be afraid, because whoever is saying it has your worst interests at heart.
There has been a lot of talk over the past couple of years in regard to the collection and retention of biometric data by authorities for the purposes of identification. In US airports we are asked to submit to retinal and finger print scans. In the UK the government wants to have everyone carry an ID card with their biometric data embedded on it. There is even a move to have people implanted with radio frequency identifying chips (RFID) and for this to become a mandatory practice.
At no point has a decent argument or justification been offered for this invasion of our persons. None of the politicians of lobbyists have given a reason that doesn’t revolve around tenuous paradigms like “preventing terrorism!” or “public safety!” – as though these things are anything but buzz words embodying an engineered zeitgeist. Some of people demanding these measures don’t even give a reason for wanting them, instead use empty quotes like “if you haven’t done anything wrong then you have nothing to fear”, which is more distraction than explanation.
The reason I have been thinking about this particular topic is an article I read in the Evening Herald last Saturday (21/04/07 “Schools go ahead with fingerprinting children scheme”) and the trip I have planned to the states next month.
It bothers me that biometric identification is being introduced without protest into schools. That the mandatory fingerprinting of students is being put in place in order to, ostensibly, reduce truancy is a permeable and distinctly acrid justification for police state tactics. Exposure to such measures in schools only serves to desensitise young people to the strategy of a surveillance state and, if I were more cynical, intended to be viewed as “futuristic” or “progressive” (and therefore “cool” by extension) by the students who may not yet be aware of the wider implications of such a scheme.
We already live in a society where our every move is caught by cameras and CCTV reminiscent of the Orwellian nightmare state of “1984”. Admittedly these devices are not yet all linked to a central source but that is not too far away if the recent “speaking cameras” on test in the UK are anything to go by.
The simple fact is that these “security” measures that the authorities want to introduce are just one more way of knowing what you are up to, one more way to invade the already limited privacy we have and to track your movements and actions at all times.
The only reason a government would wish to have the information is for the purposes of control. To control what you can and cannot do, can and cannot say, can and cannot go. It is an erosion of freedom and the gateway to everything from Gestapo-esque oppression and persistent surveillance to eugenics and social stratification.
When ever you hear “if you aren’t doing anything wrong then you have nothing to fear” you should be afraid, because whoever is saying it has your worst interests at heart.
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