Surveillance State, USA

There’s a really good article by Alfred McCoy here, on the US surveillance state. I am currently reading his brilliant new book, Policing America’s Empire.

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Author: David

I'm David Murakami Wood. I'm currently Canada Research Chair at the University of Ottawa. I like reading, cycling, running, and I am slowly coming to the realization of the limits of getting older.

One thought on “Surveillance State, USA”

  1. I agree, it was a good read, but I’m always skeptical of overblown comments such as these.

    “A future is already imaginable in which a U.S. sniper could take a bead on the eyeball of a suspected terrorist, pause for a nanosecond to transmit the target’s iris or retinal data via backpack-sized laboratory to a computer in West Virginia, and then, after instantaneous feedback, pull the trigger.”

    Such a future is very far off, if not impossible. I expect such rhetoric about biometrics from those marketing the technologies, but as academics we need to introduce some realism into the discussion. The rhetoric does more harm than good.

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