The following extract is from Freedom News and refers to the U$A, but I don't for a minute think that it is only in that country that the surveillance culture is out of control, well as far as the public is concerned, but hasn't gone far enough as far as the powers that be are concerned. Here in the UK we are continually filmed, photographed by CCTV, tracked by our mobile phones and cash machines, and car number plate identification is everywhere. I go to a dance display of my grand daughter and I'm not allowed to take photos or film the kids, but the state can photograph kids running around and playing in the park, or just doing what kids do, and they do it with impunity. The state can only exist with control over the population and in their eyes that means more surveillance, more of your data available to their prying eyes. The existence of a state controlled surveillance system nullifies any possible semblance of a democracy. and makes a mockery of freedom.
From Firestorm Books
The opening of our bookstore on Sunday had unexpected guests. Throughout the afternoon, a police drone hovered conspicuously over Haywood Road, directly in front of our shop. Occasionally it flew back to the nearby APD substation, only to be replaced a few minutes later. As we handed out homemade popsicles to celebrate our big day, some community members were alarmed. People wanted to know if the drone was ours. A neighbor arriving with her family asked if she and her children were being filmed.
It seemed that our shop and the hundreds of people who visited it were being surveilled. While the quadcopter sat in the sky and stared creepily down at us, police cars drove by slowly. Sometimes the drivers appeared to be filming with their cellphones. One officer hollered unintelligibly at folks sitting on our patio. This wasn’t a covert operation—Asheville cops wanted to make sure our customers knew they were being watched.
This bizarre abuse of power is worth talking about, not because it’s exceptional but because it’s increasingly normal. We live in a city where the surveillance capabilities of the police have greatly outpaced restraints, and elected officials ostensibly tasked with oversight are eager to appease a tough-on-crime audience. That’s an Asheville story, but it’s also a national story, with cities across the US being reshaped by a conservative backlash to the George Floyd Uprising and its call for a reckoning with the white supremacist roots of policing.
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