The Fantasy of Opting Out
I&#x27;m very pessimistic about all this. It seems to me that the horse has already
bolted: we are all under constant surveilance and there is not much we can do
about it at all. Many of us don&#x27;t even think it&#x27;s a problem and even many who
do think it is don&#x27;t want to lose the benefits that are attached to the
constant automated surveilance.<p>As citizens of democratic countries we have uttely failed to protect our
rights against private and public intrusions. We have failed to vote 
against politicians who introduce legislation to legalise pervasive automated
surveilance. In the UK, Theresa May, who brought the Snooper Charter into law
became Prime Minister instead of being kicked out of her political career in
disgrace.<i></i>* A majority of citizens of Western democracies continue to use
social media and online services like Amazon and Netflix etc.<p>The EU has introduced some legislation of course, but even in the EU state
institutions are free to spy on citizens and non-citizens alike. Everytime I
take the Eurostar for the continent I&#x27;m offered a &quot;fast track&quot; through a set
of automated gates that use facial recognition. I keep declining, but my
partner who also normally declines was coerced to go through by a border
guard. Pseudo-scientific deep-learning lie-detectors are deployed at the
borders of my own country, Greece, as well as Hungary and Latvia.<p>But all this started long ago. When surveilance cameras were first put up on
every shop and every street corner in every major EU city, only hippies and
weirdoes opposed them. And now we&#x27;re all watched by them and there&#x27;s no
changing that.<p>Who is going to stand up against the new threat to our rights? A few dispersed
academics that nobody listens to? Anonymous?<p>___________<p><i></i>* She was, but only later, because of Brexit.