
UK is deploying a surveillance state as British are focusing on Covid-19 - borjamoya
https://twitter.com/iamBorjaMoya/status/1246721750852870144
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borjamoya
I’ve just released a short film (free) about the UK’s surveillance state and
the live facial recognition deployments by UK police forces, where thousands
have been scanned without consent, and many have been racially profiled.

During 2019 and 2020 I witnessed several live facial recognition deployments
by the Metropolitan police and South Wales police. And I was able to capture
first hand the behind the scenes of what the police do during these
deployments.

The first thing I noticed in these deployment is how the UK police forces
target certain people—especially racial minorities. Which is extremely
worrying. But after you deeply analyze their modus operandi, the threat of
their surveillance goes much further than the already grave threat of racial
profiling: it is the beginning of a state of surveillance and a roll-back on
human rights and fundamental freedoms.

In this short film I show you the behind the scenes of what the police do
during live facial recognition operational deployments. And I give you a sneak
a peak of where the UK is heading with its surveillance state. And maybe this
video will serve as an example of other countries that are also walking down
this road.

You can watch the full short film here: bmstudios.org/uk-surveillance-state/

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jajag
Not wishing to downplay the subject, but the surveillance state is not a
recent development in the UK. Tony Geraghty [1] was writing about this over 20
years ago. Back then, it was about how techniques developed for use in
Northern Ireland during the troubles were beginning to be applied across the
UK as a whole. This involved things such as the mass-interception of
communications, or automatic scanning of car number plates on a massive scale
with the aim of tracking all car journeys within the country. Recent
developments are unfortunately just a continuation of a trend started a long
time ago.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Geraghty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Geraghty)

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borjamoya
You're absolutely right. The thing is that they have access to way better
technology--and they're not shy about it. I'm not just talking about their
live facial recognition. But also their access to Cleaview AI's database
([https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/28/met-police-used-
controversial...](https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/28/met-police-used-
controversial-american-facial-recognition-firm-data-breach-reveals-12320552/))

Or just consider what Cressida Dick said (Metropolitan Commissioner) regarding
how they should use data: "we absolutely must be in the exploitation
business”([https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/2020/02/the-guardian-big-
brot...](https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/2020/02/the-guardian-big-brother-
watch-responds-to-met-commissioners-attack/))

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maallooc
1984 came like 40 years late.

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borjamoya
2020 is the new 1984...

