No great awakening

Criminal on the run for 10 years caught by Met facial recognition

Half a second after the live facial recognition (LFR) camera snaps the young man walking towards Leicester Square, an alert pings on Sgt Kevin Brown’s handheld screen with a matched image.

Two faces flash up alongside each other on his smartphone-sized device. One is an image of the young criminal taken by the LFR camera and the second is a police mugshot with details of the serious offences he is being sought for by Scotland Yard.

Within seconds, the young man in his 20s is stopped and questioned by two officers. In minutes, they establish he is wanted by the Met for a crime meriting at least a year in jail. He is arrested, handcuffed and taken into custody.

Another hint that technocrats in the developed world see China as the government model to follow, at least in terms of social control. It is particularly obvious here in the UK. 

Human behaviour suggests that a few stories such as this will accustom most people to a life of mass surveillance if surveillance is sold as safety, which of course it will be. The obvious negative aspects could become more obvious later, but familiarity is likely to dull the impact as familiarity so often does. There will be no great awakening.