What seven hours in London teaches me about surveillance capitalism

Re:What seven hours in London teaches me about surveillance ... by 127361 on Wednesday December 20, 2023 @06:03AM (#38707328)

Early stages of a police state or totalitarian regime. Consider the mass surveillance of all our communications, that's an absolute hallmark[1] of a police state. And getting people to rat each other out as well, that's shocking. Even worse is how people have accepted this as "normal" and necessary for their safety.

Well, if they will imprison you for the act of reading certain texts and/or web sites here in the UK, then what do you expect, that's a de facto police state, and if the public finds it acceptable or necessary, it shows how much the frog has slowly boiled over the decades.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_surveillance "It is the single most indicative distinguishing trait of totalitarian regimes."

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What seven hours in London teaches me about surveillance ... by teamonkey on Wednesday December 20, 2023 @06:32AM (#38707491)

I wouldn’t say it was early stages. The technology is new but every other country has that technology too. There is something deeply embedded in British culture that enables it.

Orwell’s 1984 was a commentary in 1948, not a piece of speculative fiction.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What seven hours in London teaches me about surveillance ... by ajsnigrutin on Wednesday December 20, 2023 @06:30AM (#38707474)

And not just surveillance, but also direct involvement of the police.

There was a video clip about russia arresting people for stuff on social media, and how supposedly 400 people got visited by police 'that year' which seems a lot, but in comparison, 3300 got visited by the police in UK.

(this got posted to skeptics stackexchange, where it was established that the year in question was 2016: https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/54123/were-over... )

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What seven hours in London teaches me about surveillance ... by teamonkey on Wednesday December 20, 2023 @06:45AM (#38707582)

Yes, though a ‘visit from the police’ in the UK is not the same as an arrest. It can be to give a warning, or simply be to help the police with their inquiry. Certainly can be used as a threat though.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What seven hours in London teaches me about surveillance ... by mcculley on Wednesday December 20, 2023 @08:33AM (#38708467)

Early stages? The UK still has a king with legal powers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What seven hours in London teaches me about surveillance ... by phil9909 on Thursday December 21, 2023 @05:57PM (#38728275)

What do you mean by "still"? It's a quite recent development. They didn't have a king for decades.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What seven hours in London teaches me about surveillance ... by mcculley on Monday December 25, 2023 @10:52AM (#38763572)

They had a monarch with the same powers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What seven hours in London teaches me about surveillance ... by hulitu on Thursday December 21, 2023 @04:37AM (#38718598)

> And getting people to rat each other out as well, that's shocking

Is it though ? Shocking was when the nazis did it. Now it is _normal_.

[ Parent | on HN ]