Silkie Carlo is the Director of Big Brother Watch, a UK civil liberties campaign group fighting for online privacy and personal freedoms at a time of enormous technological change.
Do we have a realistic view of how social credit actually works in China? Presumably there are people who are able to work around it. Do we know how easy that is?
I have recently seen police knocking on the doors in China, checking if everyone in the house has the “app” installed or if they have a vpn, which is illegal…
If you know how to tinker with a phone’s operating system, there are ways, but it is also highly illegal there.
Here’s a potentially dumb question, - how do we deliver what ground news essentially does, a spread over the coverage of the news, to a regular consumer in the public, the ones who use Facebook, Candy Crush and nothing else?
Hi Silkie, im 51 and the last five years i have started to feel like the country will end up like some kind of cross between societies depicted in 1984 , Soylent Green, Logans Run and Blakes 7.
It seems the honest middle class suffer and pay the tax burden, and you either have to be super rich or dirt poor to avoid being trod on by the state. Honesty does not seem to be rewarded.
Will it be possible over the next generation to reverse this course?
Am i the only idiot that feels like this! how do we go about it other than tear it down and have something worse come up just as what happens when dictators are toppled the bad guys with guns get in, not scout leaders with clipboards and a plan for small local govt.
Im sure im not the first to ask this apologies if its a well worn question.
Does DJT or JDV or any well-known American free speech advocate have any sway with British politics? Meaning, is there anything the U.S. can say or do to persuade the UK or EU to ditch surveillance and free speech supression?
While, it's clear that some legislation exists which seriously undermines freedom of speech, not to mention laws around protest and digital ID etc, but we also still have many other freedoms, free elections, right of assembly, freedom of religion, trial by jury etc. At what point do these increasing authoritarian laws spill over to no longer being a free country and what point is the tipping point at which we say no more?
I think the biggest question that comes to mind for me, are digital IDs a "constitutional" approach to modern society? I would personally argue no, I think this is being used as a method to suppress British people, and in my opinion I would go as far as to say especially white British people. What are your thoughts? Thanks 😊
Enough of us are willing to trade our personal freedom for the promise of government security (as demonstrated by lockdowns) so that once Digital ID comes in we’ll never be rid of it. Tell me it isn't so?
Covid masks were baby blankets for a nation that doesn't want to grow up, or to look after themselves, or willing to take risks. You hit the nail on the head. Digital ID is to replace the Covid mask/pasport. "It is applied(enforceed) for your safety." People are just moths to a flame.
Can you ask Silkie why the government hasn’t considered elderly people and their carers in their ID plans? Old people can’t use smart phones and even now without Digital ID there are issues with shopping, medical etc for more than one household.
PS: The government doesn’t care and wants expensive old people to die early. Just my view.
Do you think civilians would revolt and abolish these government overreaches in Western society? In America, it is very hard to imagine some of these draconian measures disguised as good surviving. At least I hope they would not survive.
If we have to have digital id how can we be protected from abuses of it by authorities? Would this have to be tested in court.
I should say I don’t want general digital ids.
The obvious reasons being, 1 connected to a system access is immediate ( consequences could be immediate with no recourse for days or weeks the process becomes the punishment.) 2 they are not specific such as a driving licence or passport 3 they are arbitrary, they will be abused 4 dependant on who is in power the victims will be any one who disagree with the authorities. 5 they won’t meet the objective to identify illegal migrants. I could go on and on.
There is something off about our government wanting to specifically know everything about us, the people they supposedly serve.
If the UK introduces ID cards, how likely is it that they’ll soon be linked to facial recognition cameras, predictive policing tools, or AI systems that decide who gets flagged in public spaces? Is this the real “endgame” we should be worried about?
How do we stop this becoming a de fato poll tax? (We have compulsory IDs in Brazil which in theory do not expire but have to be renewed every 10 years, Lula has been trying to reduce this to 5 as a way to get more money out of the population)
How do you think about the relationship between individual rights and the collective rights? In particular, what are the instances in which the government surveillance on individual rights could be allowed if it benefits the collective - what's the burden of proof on government's evidencing of that collective benefit.
Do we have a realistic view of how social credit actually works in China? Presumably there are people who are able to work around it. Do we know how easy that is?
I have recently seen police knocking on the doors in China, checking if everyone in the house has the “app” installed or if they have a vpn, which is illegal…
If you know how to tinker with a phone’s operating system, there are ways, but it is also highly illegal there.
Good question!
Here’s a potentially dumb question, - how do we deliver what ground news essentially does, a spread over the coverage of the news, to a regular consumer in the public, the ones who use Facebook, Candy Crush and nothing else?
And who watches the watchers?
Hi Silkie, im 51 and the last five years i have started to feel like the country will end up like some kind of cross between societies depicted in 1984 , Soylent Green, Logans Run and Blakes 7.
It seems the honest middle class suffer and pay the tax burden, and you either have to be super rich or dirt poor to avoid being trod on by the state. Honesty does not seem to be rewarded.
Will it be possible over the next generation to reverse this course?
Am i the only idiot that feels like this! how do we go about it other than tear it down and have something worse come up just as what happens when dictators are toppled the bad guys with guns get in, not scout leaders with clipboards and a plan for small local govt.
Im sure im not the first to ask this apologies if its a well worn question.
Hello Silkie,
Thank you for taking our questions.
Does DJT or JDV or any well-known American free speech advocate have any sway with British politics? Meaning, is there anything the U.S. can say or do to persuade the UK or EU to ditch surveillance and free speech supression?
Thank you,
Jennifer W 🤔
While, it's clear that some legislation exists which seriously undermines freedom of speech, not to mention laws around protest and digital ID etc, but we also still have many other freedoms, free elections, right of assembly, freedom of religion, trial by jury etc. At what point do these increasing authoritarian laws spill over to no longer being a free country and what point is the tipping point at which we say no more?
I think the biggest question that comes to mind for me, are digital IDs a "constitutional" approach to modern society? I would personally argue no, I think this is being used as a method to suppress British people, and in my opinion I would go as far as to say especially white British people. What are your thoughts? Thanks 😊
Enough of us are willing to trade our personal freedom for the promise of government security (as demonstrated by lockdowns) so that once Digital ID comes in we’ll never be rid of it. Tell me it isn't so?
Covid masks were baby blankets for a nation that doesn't want to grow up, or to look after themselves, or willing to take risks. You hit the nail on the head. Digital ID is to replace the Covid mask/pasport. "It is applied(enforceed) for your safety." People are just moths to a flame.
Can you ask Silkie why the government hasn’t considered elderly people and their carers in their ID plans? Old people can’t use smart phones and even now without Digital ID there are issues with shopping, medical etc for more than one household.
PS: The government doesn’t care and wants expensive old people to die early. Just my view.
Do you think civilians would revolt and abolish these government overreaches in Western society? In America, it is very hard to imagine some of these draconian measures disguised as good surviving. At least I hope they would not survive.
If we have to have digital id how can we be protected from abuses of it by authorities? Would this have to be tested in court.
I should say I don’t want general digital ids.
The obvious reasons being, 1 connected to a system access is immediate ( consequences could be immediate with no recourse for days or weeks the process becomes the punishment.) 2 they are not specific such as a driving licence or passport 3 they are arbitrary, they will be abused 4 dependant on who is in power the victims will be any one who disagree with the authorities. 5 they won’t meet the objective to identify illegal migrants. I could go on and on.
There is something off about our government wanting to specifically know everything about us, the people they supposedly serve.
If the UK introduces ID cards, how likely is it that they’ll soon be linked to facial recognition cameras, predictive policing tools, or AI systems that decide who gets flagged in public spaces? Is this the real “endgame” we should be worried about?
How do we stop this becoming a de fato poll tax? (We have compulsory IDs in Brazil which in theory do not expire but have to be renewed every 10 years, Lula has been trying to reduce this to 5 as a way to get more money out of the population)
How do you think about the relationship between individual rights and the collective rights? In particular, what are the instances in which the government surveillance on individual rights could be allowed if it benefits the collective - what's the burden of proof on government's evidencing of that collective benefit.
Do not introduce Digital ID cards - Petitions https://share.google/8b6ZK3QWriYhSTDzx