Pandemic Police State [Documentary] | The Rise of Authoritarianism in the UK
Pandemic Police State [Documentary] | The Rise of Authoritarianism in the UK
The coronavirus pandemic led to the most draconian emergency powers in the UK’s history. We’ve been fighting extraordinary new police powers, Big Tech censorship online, digital Covid IDs, the quashing of protest rights and more. The erosion of democracy and loss of freedoms has been unprecedented and Big Brother Watch has been pushing back at every step of the way. This is the inside story of the UK’s pandemic police state. Directed & Edited by Erlend Evans. Produced & Presented by Madeleine Stone – Big Brother Watch.
Premiered on 23 Mar 2022.
Topics include:
1:31 - Coronavirus Bill
6:02 - Policing the Pandemic
10:15 - Unlawful Fines & Prosecutions
15:25 - Protest Threats
28:14 - Free Speech Online
31:02 - Privacy & Health Tech
33:56 - Covid Passes
39:23 Legacy of Big Brother Watch Work
The Pandemic's Digital Shadow
The digital world presents distinct challenges for human rights and democratic governance. State and nonstate actors in many countries are now exploiting opportunities created by the pandemic to shape online narratives, censor critical speech, and build new technological systems of social control.
First, political leaders used the pandemic as a pretext to limit access to information.
Second, authorities cited COVID-19 to justify expanded surveillance powers and the deployment of new technologies that were once seen as too intrusive.
The third trend has been the transformation of a slow-motion “splintering” of the internet into an all-out race toward “cyber sovereignty.”
“Normalizing biometric surveillance is pretty apparent with the COVID-19,” said Fabio Chiusi, a project manager at AlgorithmWatch, an advocacy group monitoring automated decision-making. One of the greatest myths about artificial intelligence is that it is an objective or neutral tool. It is not. AI is shaped by the prejudices, priorities and decisions of its creators and the people who deploy it. - The rise of AI surveillance – POLITICO