Dear colleagues,

with much of this mailing list's discussions monopolised by the PIR sale debate, I thought I'd mention two articles that deserve reading, which point to the fact that we might be just months away from privacy dying a very prompt death. I find it sad that only a handful of organisations are making noise about this, and even sadder that the Internet Society nor any of its members appear to understand this this is all Internet-related and therefore of utmost importance.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51188669  -- China's facial recognition coming to a place near you. The video in this report is that of the well publicised test by a UK reporter to see how long it takes for him to be (a) identified and (b) apprehended after his face being added to the system

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-secretive-company-that-might-end-privacy-as-we-know-it/ar-BBZ57OT -- it's just a matter of months before privacy stops existing altogether and everyone is identified on the streets. Clearview is one such company selling your face. There are several others in the pipeline. Governments really do not need to implement all the surveillance themselves, it's all going to be available commercially. I am now waiting for the day when the database of 3Bn identities gets hacked and we end up with massive identity fraud. Plus all the other Armageddon scenarios around this kind of database being used.

I can also foresee apps and web sites for trackmygirlfriend.com and trackmyemployee.com and the more horrific namethatchild.com which pedofiles will like.

Of course, none of this has been deemed to be in the Internet Society's Remit for 2020, so I'm probably sending this to the wrong forum. Let's get back to bashing the PIR sale sandbox.

Kindest regards,

Olivier