We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
|
Samizdata quote of the day – Labour’s Digital ID scheme is a dystopian experiment in mass surveillance It follows from this that digital ID could easily function as a permissions system. The computer might say No, leaving John unable to hire the car or buy the wine. That could be the result of an administrative error or technical glitch but, by the time the issue was resolved, John’s plans would have been cancelled. But it could also be due to the cancellation of his digital ID, a possibility the Government makes explicit in the consultation, explaining it would need the power to revoke someone’s digital ID.
Speaking at the Parliamentary committee, insider-outsider Whitley said that the system envisaged for the right-to-work checks was one in which permissions for other activities, such as buying alcohol, could be switched off and on at will.
– Alex Klaushofer
|
Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
|
Not entirely unrelated…
My wife put the BBC lunchtime news on. I vaguely pairie-dogged over the laptop and there was quite a juxtaposition of big stories. Some Labourshite doing a mea-culpa over Mandy and the news of a social media “ban” of some discription for kiddies.
To my friends, I’m a Neanderthal, as I try to do most everything in cash.
But I’m happiest – and safest – when no one knows who I am. No credit card trail, very few internet things in my real name – someone would be hard pressed to define me without knowing me.
Call me paranoid. But being paranoid never means that they’re NOT out to get you.
We (me & my mates) often worry about how a Government ID would be misused if an authoritarian party got into power. It then dawns on us that we already have one.
Having worked in IT all my life I (& some of my mates) can also assure you that mistakes will always happen, even though I never made any myself (ha!). And any data (especially that held by HMG) can & will be stolen by bad actors.
They claimed it was about countering illegal migrants – and in another country, say Denmark (which has a record of trying to counter the demographic destruction of their people), I might believe the authorities – but in Britain the authorities actively encourage illegal migrants, they give them money, and accommodation, and send British people to prison if they oppose the migration, so there must be another reason for the Digital ID.
The only other reason for the Digital ID, and the pushing of Digital currency – and all the rest of it, is the totalitarian (and international) Agenda 2030 – which the government, and the leading Corporations, are signed up to.
So when people suspect that this is a move towards totalitarianism, they are correct – that is what it is.
There is also British intellectual ancestry in all this – for example Sir Francis Bacon (intellectual mentor of Thomas Hobbes, and who the establishment greatly admire) produced the book “The New Atlantis” arguing for “scientific” totalitarianism (centuries before Henri Saint-Simon – as “The New Atlantis” was written in 1610 – the same year that Chief Justice Sir Edward Coke argued for the opposite view of state power in his judgement on the case of Dr Bonham).
Indeed the British left (such as the Labour Party novelist Hillary Mantell) admire Thomas Cromwell back in the 1500s – who dreamed of replacing the role of the church with an expanded state (indeed that the state would do far more than the church ever had – however Henry VIII choose to spend the resources he stole from the church, on war with Scotland – rather than setting up a proto Welfare State). In German thought, the “Carmeralists” of the 1700s and, indeed, before, the Welfare State was to be part of a general Police State which would control all aspects of life – and crush all dissent, political or cultural.
The international establishment also admire the Emperor Diocletian (to them he “ended the crises of the third century”) who tried to turn Classical Civilization (by his time the Roman Empire) into a totalitarian society with everyone under detailed state control – but lacked the technology to do so.
And then we go all the way back to the founder of Collectivism (at least in Western thought) – Plato, whose “Republic” and “The Laws” have been treasured by those in love with power (power over other people) for two and half thousand years.
The step from Plato to Karl Marx in places like Cambridge (by the way – a charming town) was a small one.
Plato thought he could only achieve totalitarianism on a small scale (and the failure of Diocletian, centuries later, would seem to prove him correct on that) – but Francis Bacon, Henri Saint-Simon and the modern supporters of “Technocracy” (which brings us back to Agenda 2030) believe that technology, such as Digital ID, will allow totalitarianism to be achieved on a global scale.
Will it work?
No it will, eventually, fail horribly – Ludwig Von Mises showed that (even with high technology – computers and so on) totalitarian collectivism (the dream of the international establishment – including the vast Corporations, who are joined at the hip with governments) MUST fail – that it CAN NOT work.
However, the international establishment will persist with it – it is “Policy” you see, so that it will inevitably fail and end in mass death and destruction, does not matter to them.
Yep. And if demanding and providing ID becomes simple and efficient, it will become mandatory for more and more things. Let’s Tackle Knife Crime by requiring ID to buy cutlery. Let’s Tackle Obesity by requiring ID to buy fast food. C’mon… just flash your phone at the till, what’s the problem?
“We’re big fans of George Orwell! His Nineteen Eighty-Four had some great ideas for running the UK, only he didn’t take them far enough!”
Mozilla has just released Firefox 150. It comes with a free VPN.
The technology of the Romans should not be underestimated – there were large, water powered, factories (for example near Arles), at least one mechanical calculator (computer) has been found (vindicating Cicero who mentioned one in his writings) with complicated gearing, and the discovered pleasure ships of Nero (sadly destroyed during World War II – what a certain Congress person from Somalia thinks means World War Eleven) showed ball bearings and other technology that it had been thought was first developed in the 19th century.
So Diocletian was not that lacking in technology.
The Inca Empire had far less technology and “achieved” totalitarianism (before it collapsed into Civil War) – much to the joy of modern “intellectuals”.
Still Diocletian would have loved Digital ID – he was the first Emperor not to rely just on informers, he set up a proper Secret Police – they would have used this tool extensively.
Paul,
Oddly enough I recently booked a holiday in September to Split, Croatia. You’ll never guess who’s “retirement palace” is the biggest attraction there… Diocletian was not a guy for “downsizing” in his dotage.
Back when ID Cards where a proposal about 20 years ago I wrote a short story about how accidents could break things even without malicious intent. Nothing in that story has needed updating, apart from the dates and the MP’s name
NickM – yes indeed, he built himself an excellent retirement home. Very well defended and with access to the sea (but also defended against attack from the sea).
With the collapse of Classical Civilization – ordinary people made the place into one of refuge from the barbarian raiders.
FrancisT
This would be in line with how my old department works, yes I was in the Home Office (and still know people who work there).
Indeed I now regret leaving the Home Office – had I stayed I would have had a good income and would now be getting a good pension.
“But you would be part of the Collectivist project” – and my going into politics did what to hold back that project?
All I did was mess my own life up – I did not “save British liberty” or anything of the sort.
I have just installed the Firefox VPN on both my machines. It can be a bit tricky. Anyone needs any help… Then ask me.
The most likely issue is the icon in the toolbar just disappears. Especially if you are syncing multiple machines.
And this is how you sort that…
Russia has of course recently banned VPNs and screwed much of it’s economy…
By the way – the American left, and the international left establishment generally, HAVE TO support international “governance” – it is not really optional for them, they have-to support it.
Otherwise people, who can, will move to places where there are lower taxes, less regulations, and where private property is secure against looters. Just as people move from California (and so on) to places such as Florida.
That is also the principle on an international scale – so taxes and regulations (and the criminal law) must be “harmonized”.
“It is not world government, that is a paranoid suggestion, it is world governance”.
Functionalism rather than Federalism – via various agreements and understandings.
Version 1.0: ‘You will own nothing and be happy.’
Version 2.0: ‘You will beg on bended knees or go without.’
Zerren Yeville – correct.