Informationoverlord

“…there’s something about being ticketed… and numbered that gives the man the feeling of being a piece of baggage or a convict. One can’t help thinking wistfully of our father’s day, when the world hadn’t grown so small. But one could move about in it without being watched so closely. Nowadays, we’re treated like demented or delinquent children. And the eyes are always on us.”

As we roll into 2010 and face another year of the slow creep of the Surveillance state (don’t forget if you’re in Manchester you can run out and get one of those nice ID Cards to prove who you are, and go on the government’s nice database) I was lucky enough over the Christmas period to watch a few episodes of the Orson Welles Sketchbook. The one that came as the biggest surprise, dates from 1955, and had Welles talking about Officialdom, and its infringement on our privacy.

Welles would no doubt have been interested in a situation where – in the UK – we allegedly have around 20% of the world’s CCTV cameras watching 1% of the world’s population; where a government wants to take DNA of all the population – just in case you ever commit a crime; where the government wants to create an ID database – with associated ID card – containing lots of information that has little or nothing to do with identifying who you are; and where the Police feel it’s their job to stop people taking photographs of them, buildings, and indeed just about anything else. We keep being told we live in a different world now and that means that the State and Officialdom are therefore no longer there to serve us, but to control us for our own safety. It’s funny that 45 years ago Welles hit the nail on the head when he said of the Police:

” I’m willing to admit that the policeman has a difficult job, a very hard job, but it’s the essence of our society that the policeman’s job should be hard. He’s there to protect, protect the free citizen, not to chase criminals, that’s an incidental part of his job. The free citizen is always more of a nuisance to the policeman that the criminal. He knows what to do about the criminal.”

Orson’s solution was to have an ID card – government rejoice – but not in the way the government envision it – government still rejoice and still try and spin it. He called for the creation of big international organization for the protection of the individual, to be called “I.S..[sic].P.I.A.O. That would be the International Association for the Protection of the Individual Against Officialdom.”

” The card itself should look rather like a union card, I should think, a card of an automobile club. And since its purpose is to impress and control officialdom, well, obviously, it should be as official looking as possible. With a lot of seals and things like that on it. And it might read something as follows:

This is to certify that the bearer is a member of the human race. All relevant information is to be found in his passport. And except when there is good reason for suspecting him of some crime, he will refuse to submit to police interrogation, on the grounds that any such interrogation is an intolerable nuisance. And life being as short as it is, a waste of time. Any infringement on his privacy, or interference with his liberty, any assault, however petty, against his dignity as a human being, will be rigorously prosecuted by the undersigned, I.S.[sic].P.I.A.O. That would be the International Association for the Protection of the Individual Against Officialdom. ”

Clever man that Orson Welles.

It seems that the residents of Manchester will be the first people in the UK to benefit from feeling safe in knowing who they are. The government’s wonderful plan to issue us all with ID cards that we don’t have to carry is starting in earnest (a small village on the outskirts of Manchester, I believe). “ID cards will deliver real benefits to everyone, including increased protection against criminals, illegal immigrants and terrorists,” the home secretary said. Yes, it is true. In future if you encounter any of these classes of people all that all you’ll need to do is wave your ID card at them, and it will emit a secret death ray that will either kill or momentarily disarm the individual’s) allowing you enough time to escape.