IT suppliers that collaborate with thegovernment on the increasing surveillanceof law-abiding citizens face a public backlash, and may be
at risk of acts of violence, including the smashing of computer
centres.
The warning was issued to hundreds of IT, security and finance
executives at a conference on board the cruise ship Aurora
recently.
In a keynote speech to delegates at the
City IT and IT Security
Forum, Ian Pearson, a former BT "futurologist" and a chartered
fellow of the British Computer Society, spoke of a backlash against
the government's preoccupation with surveillance technologies.
Within five years Pearson predicted that the government's
crackdown on law-abiding people could lead to marches in the
street, demonstrations outside some computer centres and - if the
government takes no action - targeted acts of violence.
He told the invited audience of some of the UK's largest IT
suppliers and users, "By 2012 to 2013 tops you will see a
technology backlash in the major population. Why is it relevant to
you? Because if your firm is providing services to government
authorities, which help the government to crack down on law-abiding
people, you are in the firing line. Be very careful you are on the
right side of the line when the [backlash occurs]. You need to be
very careful indeed."
He added, "Be careful how you market new products Make sure
people do not understand the link between you and the government
which is trying to crack down on their everyday lives. That will
make you on the wrong side of the firing line."
He referred to the surveillance state as the "Stepford Society"
and said that the ever-increasing use of technologies to oppress
people could become an electoral issue. The party which credibly
promises a reduction in surveillance technologies could generate
support to win a general election.
He said that law-abiding people are being "put in a digital
prison by overt surveillance by the government" while criminals
roam free.
"We are heading rapidly towards a society where the government
is increasing surveillance under the guise of cracking down on
crime, but they are actually cracking down on law-abiding people to
make sure they are not just quite law-abiding but absolutely
law-abiding.
"You close your wheelie bin lid every single week to make sure
it is absolutely closed. And you only put it out at five past eight
in the evening so you do not catch a fine for putting it out at
five to eight.
"The criminals are walking around free, using high-technology to
evade [government] systems and then they get caught and are let off
with a caution."
He told the conference, "I think surveillance technology is
great if you can pick out the criminals and terrorists. That is not
actually what governments are using it for. It is too difficult
because terrorists do not fill in the right forms. Neither do
criminals. They put in false IDs. They do not talk to the police
very nicely. You and I do. We have all registered our cars with the
DVLA so when you drive at 75mph though one of these new speed traps
with all the cameras linked together you will get a £60 fine and
three points on your licence.
"The criminal who stole your car and is driving at 120 will not
get a fine because it is your car, and he nicked it, and he can
drive at whatever speed he likes. And if it is his own car he will
have number-plates using LCD technology, so his number-plates will
change every time he goes through a speed check. He does not get a
fine, because he does not care about the law.
"The Stepford Society is a realisation that you cannot lock in
the law-abiding majority of the population forever The rejection of
overt surveillance by the population eventually reaches a critical
point, and will bubble over into some sort of revolution,
demonstrations in the streets, and smashing government computer
centres.
"The government will want to use all these new technologies to
force compliance - of course they do - but some people will realise
that others are getting away with it We all read periodically that
someone in government has left a memory stick or a PC on a train.
That can happen only so many times before I get really annoyed that
it is my records that have gone missing and I may suffer the
consequences an identity theft You cannot keep increasing
surveillance ad infinitum without the population objecting.
Eventually it will become an electoral issue where the party that
says it will reduce surveillance will get elected."
Examples of The Stepford Society
- Road tolls via satellite-tracking
- Speed cameras
- DNA databases
- Identity Cards
- 25% of the world's CCTVs
- Face recognition systems
- Tax enforcement via integrated databases
- Speed limits built in car management system
- Government knows everywhere you go
- Extensive and permanent police records
- One stop shop for all government data
- Monitoring of e-cash
- Number-plate recognition
- Abuse of millimetre wave cameras (which measure waves naturally
emitted by the human body, exposing "cold" objects under
clothing)
- Extensive monitoring of all electronic activity
Read more of Ian Pearson's comments on the IT Projects blog
>>