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EU Investigates Meta in Crackdown on Alleged “Rabbit Hole” Effects, Wants It To Push Digital ID

May 19, 2024

EU Investigates Meta in Crackdown on Alleged “Rabbit Hole” Effects, Wants It To Push Digital ID

There was a lot of talk about the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) while it was drafted and during the typical-of-the-bloc tortuous process of adoption, but now that it’s been here for a while, we’ve been getting a sense of how it is being put to use.

Utilizing the European digital ID wallet to carry out age verification is just one of the fever pitch ideas here. And EU bureaucrats are trying to make sure that these controversial policies are presented as perfectly in line with how DSA was originally pitched.

The regulation was slammed by opponents as in reality a sweeping online censorship law hiding behind focused, and noble, declarations that its goal was to protect children’s well-being, fight disinformation, etc.

The cold hard reality is that trying to (further) turn the screw – any which way they can – on platforms with the most reach and most influence ahead of an election is simply something that those in power, whether it’s the US or the EU, don’t seem to be able to resist.

Here’s the European Commission (who’s current president is actively campaigning to get reappointed in the wake of next month’s European Parliament elections) opening an investigation into Meta on suspicion its flagship platforms, Facebook and Instagram, create “addictive behavior among children and damage mental health.”

After all, exerting a bit more pressure on social media just before an election never hurt anybody. /s

Thierry Breton, an EU commissioner who made a name for himself as a proponent of all sorts of online speech restrictions during the current, soon to expire European Commission mandate, reared his head again here:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Belgium and Hungary Launch Controversial Digital IDs, Vaccine Passport, Ahead of EU Regulations

May 18, 2024

Belgium and Hungary Launch Controversial Digital IDs, Vaccine Passport, Ahead of EU Regulations

If you’re tired of censorship and surveillance, join Reclaim The Net.

Belgium and Hungary are leading the way in launching digital ID wallets ahead of EU’s eIDAS (“electronic identification and trust services”) 2.0 regulation and EUDI Wallet coming into force later this month.

In Belgium, the MyGov.be app, covering all of the country’s federal public services, was launched on Tuesday, with the government promoting the digital identity as “simplifying” the use of its services, and “making life easier.”

In other words, the authorities there are playing the convenience card – while downplaying the risks that come with this type of centralization of people’s identities.

The wallet, via “eBox” mailbox, gives access to government-issued documents, as well as 683 services, identity data, Covid vaccination records, and more.

However, the success of the scheme is by no means guaranteed – on the one hand it is not mandatory, so people are free to decide not to use it.

Judging by an opinion poll Deloitte carried out last year, “71 percent of Belgians do not want a digital ID on their phone,” reports say, adding that the same survey showed that 79 percent “do not want a mobile driver’s license, while half refuse to fully digitize their IDs.”

“Ease of use” is also how digital ID is pushed in Hungary, where the appropriate app will be made available for download as soon as this week, while the service will be fully operational from September.

Enthusiastic reports about this development describe the digital ID program as “innovative,” “handy” and “saving costs.”

At the same time, putting all of a person’s data in one place and storing it in the cloud is advertised as something positive, instead of what opponents consider as scary – from the security standpoint alone.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

WEF Report Supports CBDC and Digital ID, Urges Public-Private Collaboration in Finance

April 30, 2024

WEF Report Supports CBDC and Digital ID, Urges Public-Private Collaboration in Finance

WEF’s ambiguous stance on digital currencies raises eyebrows, suggesting a veiled push for CBDCs under the guise of collaboration.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is clearly championing the introduction not only of (retail) central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for the general public but also the wholesale version, wCBDC, geared toward interbank payments and securities transactions.

It is not uncommon to come across leading financial institutions and banks linking to WEF reports while explaining and promoting their own activities in this space.

And yet, a new WEF report (a collaborative effort with Accenture) titled, “Modernizing Financial Markets with Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (wCBDC),” states that the group does not actually explicitly “advocate” for issuance of wCBDCs.

(Nonetheless, the same report, “a critical analysis,” at one point in fact states that it “advocates for collaboration among central banks, commercial banks and financial market infrastructures to use wCBDC to address interbank payment and securities transaction challenges.”)

The WEF, an informal group gathering global elites, seems aware that CDBCs, in general, are a controversial proposition, and may be trying to control the optics regarding the depth of its involvement, since it doesn’t necessarily help elected national governments if WEF is seen as the main driving force behind the schemes.

However, the WEF also obviously again trying to position itself at the center of incoming policies: “This report offers timely insights for public and private sector leaders evaluating the potential role of wCBDC in their jurisdictions,” it reads.

Either way, WEF has for a while now evidently been taking the lead in crafting a template of sorts for policies that will allow mass adoption of (w) CBDCs around the world.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Wave Goodbye to Another Set of Freedoms With the New Digital ID

April 24, 2024

Wave Goodbye to Another Set of Freedoms With the New Digital ID

In the 1980s, Australians fought hard against a similar national ID program, what has changed since then?
Commentary

“Papers please” used to be the ostinato of totalitarian systems, at least in the movies.

With the passing of the government’s Digital ID bills, Australians will have to become used to the digital equivalent—so what does that say about present-day Australia?

A few things have surprised me over the last few years, not the least the way the famous Aussie spirit of insubordination has been subsumed into a goody-two-shoes compliance with whatever capricious orders the authorities made.

I can’t imagine our forebears accepting lockdowns and forced vaccinations, and I certainly couldn’t see them accepting an identity card linking not just government accounts but private sector ones as well.

While the first proposition is an assertion based on a gut feeling, the second is very much based on fact.Remember the Australia Card?

In 1984, the Hawke Labor government introduced the Australia Card, and for the next three years, the government and opposition parties tussled over it to the extent that it triggered a double-dissolution election in 1987.

Objections didn’t just come from the federal Opposition either.

Queensland Labor Senator George Georges resigned from the governing party in 1986 over the issue, and in the lower house, Labor backbencher Lewis Kent said:

“Nothing can be more un-Australian than the need to provide one’s identity on the call of an official, be it a policeman or a bureaucrat. It would be more appropriate for the proposed card to be called a Hitlercard or Stalin-card.”

As a result, while the government won the 1987 election, and had the numbers to push the card through, instead, it withdrew the card when a technicality was found that could have affected its operation. One senses this was a relief.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Cashless World Signals a Global End to Privacy

November 11, 2020

Cashless World Signals a Global End to Privacy

 

Countries are moving to digital currencies at lightning speed. This is the future of money. Digital currencies will replace cash on an ASAP agenda. We are witnessing Europe, Canada, Asia, and even China all moving toward this new digital world for (1) total control, (2) taxes, (3) to track everyone and every transaction. We have been witnessing world leaders, including Trudeau, eager to see the fall of Trump because he has stood in opposition to this movement.

Even China has begun trials of a new digital Yuan. They have already outlawed BitCoin. You are witnessing the same unfolding in Europe. In the USA, legally you are supposed to report what digital currency you have when traveling from overseas because you are carrying more than $10,000 even if you had that when you left. Bitcoin, I have warned, was allowed to operate because the government wanted people to get accustomed to digital currency. Once they broke ground, then it was just a stroke of the pen to outlaw it and convert everything to the digital sovereign currency.

The digital currency will become an international currency. Many countries are hoping this will dethrone the dollar. The Chinese are looking at this as a way to also bypass the SWIFT system that the West has used to impose sanctions on countries. In that respect, they have brought that on themselves.

However, this new world of a digital economy brings with it great damage to our freedom. This is why Bill Gates has been pushing this at the United Nations, which he seems to have bought. Gates is looking for a monopoly far beyond Microsoft. He wants a monopoly over the digital world. I think his dreams are bigger than his ego. Digital money is a way to know everything any citizen does and it will allow every government to track its citizens. In the United States, the IRS has already been using digital info to track people illegally. This is just the beginning.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Your “Immunity Passport” Future Begins to Materialize As Airlines Call For Digital ID Tracking Systems

May 27, 2020

YOUR “IMMUNITY PASSPORT” FUTURE BEGINS TO MATERIALIZE AS AIRLINES CALL FOR DIGITAL ID TRACKING SYSTEMS

THE WORLD’S LARGEST AIRLINE TRADE GROUP HAS CALLED FOR IMMUNITY PASSPORTS, THERMAL SCREENING, MASKS, AND PHYSICAL DISTANCING TO BE A PART OF THE INDUSTRY’S STRATEGY FOR RETURNING TO “NORMAL” OPERATIONS.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents 299 airlines, recently issued their publication, Biosecurity for Air Transport A Roadmap for Restarting Aviation, which outlines their strategy to open up air travel as governments begin to lift travel restrictions.

Under a section titled, “The passenger experience” and “Temporary biosecurity measures,” the IATA describes their vision of post-COVID-19 flights. The organization calls for contact tracing, a controversial method of tracking the civilian population to track the spread of COVID-19.

“We foresee the need to collect more detailed passenger contact information which can be used for tracing purposes,” the report states. “Where possible, the data should be collected in electronic form, and in advance of the passenger arriving at the airport including through eVisa and electronic travel authorization platforms.”

Interestingly, this call for pre-boarding check-in using “electronic travel authorization platforms” coincides with the recent announcement of the Covipass and the Health Pass from Clear, both of which call for a digital ID system using biometrics and storing travel, health, and identification data.

Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s CEO, told Arabian Industry that “a layered approach” combining multiple measures which are “globally implemented and mutually recognized by governments” are “the way forward for biosecurity.”

The IATA also calls for temperature screening at entry points to airport terminals. They envision the airline experience involving physical distancing of 3-6 feet throughout the airport. The group believes changes to the airport buildings to allow for physical distancing may be necessary. The IATA also recommended “face coverings” for passengers and protective equipment for airline and airport staff.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article..,

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