Bone In The Throat

A while back I wrote a couple of pieces about digital IDs. The most recent is linked Here . An older one is linked Here. 

Yesterday I ran across articles about the UK rolling out compulsory digital ID, and another article about the EU beginning a digital ID program for visitors to EU countries. There’s another article about a Swiss version, I stumbled across this morning.

I also noted that North Dakota added their digital drivers license to the Apple Wallet, (but they’re charging their residents a fee for the privilege).

The EU digital ID program is starting mid October. This system requires visitors to supply fingerprints, and submit to a facial scan for entry to EU countries. The claim is that they’ll be able to do away with passport stamps and better be able to identify people who overstay their visas. They also claim that fingerprints and facial scans will only be maintained for 3 years.

Meaning, if you only visit one of these countries and never go back to any other EU country, 3 years after your visit they’ll purge the record. I personally think they’ll never purge those records. 3 years is a long time and I’m positive that additional laws will be enacted that make those records permanent. 

After all, the UK & EU have both been pushing for backdoors into private phone data for everyone on the planet. There’s every reason to believe they’re trying to, and will succeed in building some kind of database of not only their own citizens, but also any visiting tourists.

One article suggested that if a tourist for example refused to provide this biometric data, they’d be denied entry to the country requesting the information.

Hey, a country is entitled to maintain control over their national borders. (Unless the country’s name is the United States, ahem.)

As a tourist, I don’t necessarily want to provide biometric data, so I guess any ideas I had about visiting Europe are toast once this system is fully implemented.

My passport chip contains biometrics as well and honestly, I’m not thrilled about that either. The difference is that I have control over my passport and who sees it. Once that chip is scanned though, my data is subject to being uploaded to whatever database a requester sees fit.

Fundamentally, and in a perfect world where governments could be trusted I’m good with providing this kind of information. The problem is, we don’t live in a perfect world, and no government can be trusted.

I go into it in some detail in the posts I referenced at the top of this post.

In fact I’d already decided if I ever went to Europe that I’d leave all technology stateside. My reasoning, before the UK & EU mandates was that I didn’t want to risk being detained anywhere for an offensive meme, or a comment that was deemed “Hate speech” that might be on my phone.

I figured if I didn’t carry any tech, other than my Nikon, and refused to provide any email addresses there’s be no way I could post something someone didn’t like. Without access to my online accounts, the authorities in whatever country would have no way to review my online activity to determine if I passed their purity tests.

Yes, I used the term “Purity Test” with intention. That term hearkens back to Nazi Germany, Communism, and even the old “One Drop Rules” of the white supremacists in the Old South.

The primary difference today isn’t about skin color, or religion. It’s about compliance and purity of thought. Does a particular individual represent a threat to group think? Is that person’s presence likely to cause a disruption in thought amongst our subjects? Will this person raise or ask difficult questions?

Honestly, that’s what I think these mandates are about. It’s not just being identified, or verifying that someone is overstaying their visa or has government authorization to work.

It’s about linking an individual to their social media, which is a way to get inside their head, then limiting their privileges within the society based on how compliant a person is. Just as China is doing today.

This is authoritarianism. The UK and EU are running headlong into the abyss.

I naively thought that traveling without technology would provide some level of privacy. I no longer think that is sufficient.

The UK has famously blocked speakers from other countries one of whom is a gentleman who after much study is very critical of Islam. The first time they blocked him from entering the UK they waited until he’d made the flight to the UK. They knew they were going to ban him, but chose to cost him money by making the flight, then charging him for accommodation under guard until he could pay the extra fees to take an early flight back to the US.

It’s reasonable to ask when will the UK start scouring average people’s social media accounts as a condition of entry.

The UK is, I think a petrie dish of sorts for the EU. Yes, they’ve supposedly broken away from the EU, but they’re still headed away from freedom and into authoritarianism.

When you think about it, the UK is a perfect testing ground. They’re small, easily contained via blockade, disarmed, have a liberal population, and are steeped in white guilt.

Those factors mean that experimentation about how much a population will take before they revolt is relatively safe. If crushing authoritarian control results in civil war it’s no big deal. The EU can call in the UN for “Humanitarian reasons” and put down any rebellion.

Think that’s utter bullshit? Then why are some units of the London police force wearing UN blue uniforms? Why are common rights within the UK being abridged? Why are teenagers and adults being fined or arrested for social media posts? Why is it apparently illegal to fly traditional UK flags?

I think the powers that be behind the EU are still pulling the UK government’s strings and that it’s likely what’s happening in the UK is an experiment that’s reaching its end.

Which means the EU is going to implement all the things that people in the UK allowed with a minimum amount of grumbling in all their member nations.

It also means that I’m not going to see Europe in my lifetime. I’m probably never going on a dive trip outside the United States territorial waters again. Curaçao and Bon Aire for example are part of The Netherlands, they fall under EU law. Although, their restaurants, bars, and hotels prefer any currency other than Euros.

It would be easy to say to myself, “Well, I’m only a tourist and this biometric data they’re asking for is nothing to worry about.” That is probably a true statement and as an average person 100% correct for now.

But how long before AI can scan everything I’ve ever posted, find a “crime” in any particular country I’m visiting & arrest me? I’ve been critical of Islam, I’ve been critical of the UK, the US, the transgender movement, some of my opinions could be considered radical, hurtful, or I could be deemed an “agitator”.

While those comments may be legal in my home country (at the moment), they may be considered illegal in other countries and all countries have different statutes of limitations on such things.

If authoritarian governments have biometric data, linked to my digital ID, and via my digital ID they link things I’ve said, even in anger, on social media… Then any of it can be used to legally detain me, fine me, or imprison me.

Much as I like the idea of digital ID’s I think I’m going to so my best not to use them and I’ll see what I can do about deleting my digital ID footprint.

It’s not about engaging in criminal activity, It’s about denying those who would control me the opportunity. 

As a plus, I don’t have to pay the US government for my passport every 10 years.