The Slow Death of Privacy

I had to go to Lisbon the other day in order to renew my "freedom to travel license", aka passport.

I took the train to go there, and much to my surprise, the conductor didn't ask me for my ticket. All he needed was my identification papers. The logic being that tickets are bought online with name attached. The ticket is therefore not needed. All the conductor needs to know is the name of the person in front of him.

That makes some kind of sense, I guess. However, the conductor proved himself uninterested in my ticket. When I showed it to him before identifying myself, he dismissed it as irrelevant. His only interest was in my ID. In other words, my ID was my ticket. The ticket was nothing but a receipt.

So, this is what they have planned for us. Not only are we required to show ID when traveling internationally, we have to show ID when traveling domestically as well. When they hook our IDs up to their social credit and carbon emission matrix, compliance with the system becomes a requirement for travel.

The social contract