People-tracking wristbands tested to enforce lockdown in Bulgaria
bbc.co.uk
bbc.co.uk
I had one.
Mine was just a paper band with a QR code on it - it was implied it had some form of RFID chip in it, although it was clear it didn't.
The new ones are a larger grey box that straps on to your wrist - I'm not convinced this isn't a panopticon too, but have yet to see any firm evidence either way.
While I know the risks, I'm partly for it - the methods here have worked.
Yes, yes, I know it's a slippery slope, hence the use of the word "partly"
Edit: upon entering HK you are put in to mandatory quarantine for two weeks - it's during this period the wrist bands are used.
For the record, I hate it. And I hate that Poland's Comarch is adding to this growing panopticon.
A wristband is always on you, visible, can survive weeks without charge (if they use bluetooth LE and don't have a display) and is impossible to hide.
The "big switch" was 14to 15 of March. The MSN here ran a fake story about Trump wanting to buy some German pharma company (all large newspapers retracted the story around March 17), but it was enough to get people sufficiently distracted to completely change their previous policy.
It was pretty interesting to watch how it was orchestered.
Closing border refers to closing it for regular people.
Eventually you'll be unable to function without the app and the smartphone and be left with no choice.
This is already happening in the UK as a lot of services are fairly difficult to use if you don't go via https://gov.uk.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-design-principles
The people who most need our services are often the people who find them hardest to use. Let’s think about those people from the start.
Coincidentally I found a couple of days ago a link to it and started reading it, I'm almost thru it.
It's unfortunately as current as when it was written, probably even more.
"""
But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another — slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.
"""
LOL! This person completely missed the point of the book.
- Good chance to kill off the filthy undesirables (economic deadweights such as those who dare to be ill or elderly people)
- Easy to roll out mass increases of police powers and surveillance without any real opposition
- Fuck it, you can basically do what you want and sycophants will still go "now is not the time to critique, we need to be united"
Modern liberal democracies have been absolutely gasping for the chance to roll out some of these measures. Expect to see a "productive work time tracker" soon!
Government members and people in power in general tend to be older, and not always the most healthy. "Senator" means "elder" in latin, that's for a reason. And I don't think they want to be part of the "filthy undesirables".
> Easy to roll out mass increases of police powers and surveillance without any real opposition
Sure, but as the pandemic resolves, opposition comes back
> Fuck it, you can basically do what you want and sycophants will still go "now is not the time to critique, we need to be united"
Again, that's true. But again, the judgment will come later. People will look at how the government managed the crisis, compare it to what happened in other countries, and it will definitely affect the upcoming elections. And the upcoming elections is what politicians live for.
> Modern liberal democracies have been absolutely gasping for the chance to roll out some of these measures. Expect to see a "productive work time tracker" soon!
As if such things don't exist already. But the government already has a very good indicator on how productive you are: your revenue.
> Sure, but as the pandemic resolves, opposition comes back
Have we seen examples of governments relinquishing surveillance powers after the events that spurred the increase? The patriot act is still a thing in the US, and it's been almost two decades since 9/11.
So we're basically saying that the liberal democracies don't want to be liberal anymore? I'm just sort of confused as to who the purported boogeyman is in this case.
This disease has leaders treating human beings like we're gears in a machine; or machines that can be turned on and off. >25million unemployed Americans who are burning through months of savings, with unpaid bills and rent and mortgage due, begs to differ.
Humanity cannot be turned off an put in storage. Maybe in the EU there is relief and good social welfare systems. In a lot of the world, there isn't. And then the media blasts protestors as right wing gun waving people who want haircuts. Some of them might be sure, but some of them have also been in food bank lines for hours and are wondering how they are going to survive without an income for another month.
We are suffering form two diseases. The first one is the virus killing people. The second one is ever measure without forethought leading to the suffering of the poor, increasing poverty and eroding our basic civil liberties.
This disease has shown our leaders don't see us as people. They claim they care about our lives, but they only really care that people are alive.
Another kiwi I worked with sent me a video of walking through an empty Wellington. It's a small nation, 4 million people, plus ACC (health care) and solid unemployment for all, so it's much easier for them to cope. It's also easier for them to close the country, as it is a set of islands. The friend who did that walk said it was still Orwellian though.
Except ... they are? From what I've seen the protestors are all for increased policed powers (Thin Blue Line type supporters), just not when it applies to _them_ - i.e. now.
They care in the same way that farmers care about their sheep being alive...