Welcome to Nineteen Eighty Four

[breaker]

When working in the mines you are told to leave common sense at the door

Also at chainsaw acreditation some pimply 20 year old advised, do it by the book no thinking involvolved, I left.

 

[Glen48]

A USA company has developed a computer programme which scans face's in a crowd and check them against wanted by the feds file,so any crook? wanted by the feds is at risk of being nabbed also over head streetlight cameras with mic's to listen in to your conversation or radar that can see through walls so I guess we are all done for.

 

[Calliope]

I get that the idea of having a chip actually physically in our body is intrusive and something we will almost certainly instinctively dislike, but wouldn't it in reality be quite sensible?

Of course it would be sensible. But "sensible" doesn't cut the mustard. In 1985 the Hawke government tried to introduce the Australia Card. The card was to amalgamate other government identification systems and act against tax avoidance and health and welfare rorts.

From the ruckus that evolved you would have thought that it was the end of our civil liberties. As Labor did not control the Senate it led to a double dissolution. Hawke dropped the proposal in 1987.

 

[wayneL]

I get that the idea of having a chip actually physically in our body is intrusive and something we will almost certainly instinctively dislike, but wouldn't it in reality be quite sensible?

NOOO!!!!!

It presumes a benevolent regime is in control. Imagine if at some point in the future some megalomaniacal Trotskyite got control of Oz or some other country. Individuals and/or their rights would exist (or not) at the whim of some government official.

Imagine if the rights to liberty of an individual were simply 'switched off' due to some perceived dissent or thought crime .

NO WAY JOSE!!!

 

[cynic]

Julia there are good technical arguments for a microchip process for each person to carry vital information.

But my feeling is that making every person instantly accessible by a government is just too much of a risk to individual freedom.

Just consider the range of left and right wing dictatorships or even "democratic" governments we have seen in our lifetime. I think the potential for abuse of power is too high. Consider the Patriot Acts in America and the opportunity to detain people without trial or charge on suspicion of terrorism. I just wouldn't trust any government with that sort of power.

+1.

Considering the uncertain political landscape that we are currently witnessing (locally and globally), I am also of the belief that the potential for misuse (as described in Bas' post), greatly outweighs the perceived benefits that might accrue from implementation of said technology.

 

[Julia]

Julia there are good technical arguments for a microchip process for each person to carry vital information.

But my feeling is that making every person instantly accessible by a government is just too much of a risk to individual freedom.

Just consider the range of left and right wing dictatorships or even "democratic" governments we have seen in our lifetime. I think the potential for abuse of power is too high. Consider the Patriot Acts in America and the opportunity to detain people without trial or charge on suspicion of terrorism. I just wouldn't trust any government with that sort of power.

NOOO!!!!!

It presumes a benevolent regime is in control. Imagine if at some point in the future some megalomaniacal Trotskyite got control of Oz or some other country. Individuals and/or their rights would exist (or not) at the whim of some government official.

Imagine if the rights to liberty of an individual were simply 'switched off' due to some perceived dissent or thought crime .

NO WAY JOSE!!!

Could you both give some examples of the potential misuse?