The World in 2030

The World in 2030 251
But despite the need for increased security in our terroristthreatened
world, the growth of cameras in city centres,
shopping malls, highways, airports, rail stations and other
frequently populated spots will certainly threaten our
civil liberties and will give rise to some potentially serious
problems.
The reason that most people are sanguine about the
proliferation of surveillance technology (not just cameras)
is that they suspect that not only is no one looking at the
millions of images and mountains of data generated (unless a
problem occurs), but ‘Big Brother’ (i.e. the State) has turned
out to be more like a benevolent moron than a sinister
manipulator of individual lives. The failure of our police to
track and apprehend so many criminals (despite all of the
technology available) indicates how low the current threat
to individual rights and liberties remains.
But this could change – nothing can be ruled out when
politics is considered. For this reason long before we get to
2030 we must strengthen our national and federal laws to
control who has access to such surveillance information and
we must develop much stricter rules about how it can be used.
When you consider that your mobile phone is transmitting
its location to its cellular network 800 times every second, it
becomes clear that details about all of our public movements
are available, should anyone have the power of access and
wish to look. Equally, RFID payment systems such as the
plastic Oyster Card used in London’s public transport
network, generate a complete database of your movements
on the system. By 2030 personal, local, national and global
networks will be recording your every move.