This seems to be the next level of culture wars. They have no interest in researching why there is an increase in shoplifting occurrences.
I'm sure there is a huge correlation between people who shoplift because they can't afford necessities and people who can afford an up to date passport, this legislation is foolproof!
There's certainly a huge correlation between people who commit crimes of survival and people the Tories don't want to be able to vote (for which you now need photo ID).
And a huge correlation between not being a white guy and false matches with facial recognition.
Theres like a bazillion movies, books and games telling us why overarching surveillance is a bad thing.
Oh, don't worry, it's only bad for the common people so that doesn't count.
There's plenty of real life examples of why overarching surveillance is a bad thing. The Stasi, the Gestapo, the Chinese social credit system, the myriad of Western domestic spying programs revealed by whistleblowers.
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They don't care. Look at the P&O scandal. The fine was costed in before they made the decision to break employment law. Heck, the select committee that was responsible for holding those assholes to account even said this was a test for the government to respond to and they did absolutely nothing.
They think the people who are shoplifting have passports?
The people who are shoplifting (in the main part) are desperate people who are really at rock bottom. The money being spent on this could be used in much better ways.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
“By enabling the police to use private dashcam footage, as well as the immigration and asylum system, and passport database, the government are turning our neighbours, loved ones, and public service officials into border guards and watchmen.
That starts with supporting people who are struggling to survive amid a cost of living crisis, an inadequate welfare system and rocketing food prices.”
Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, said: “Philp’s plan to subvert Brits’ passport photos into a giant police database is Orwellian and a gross violation of British privacy principles.
It means that over 45 million of us with passports who gave our images for travel purposes will, without any kind of consent or the ability to object, be part of secret police lineups.
“To scan the population’s photos with highly inaccurate facial recognition technology and treat us like suspects is an outrageous assault on our privacy that totally overlooks the real reasons for shoplifting.
Officers will be able to compare those facial images against CCTV, dashcam and doorbell technology to help find a match for criminals as prosecution rates are at record lows.
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