...The key question for establishing an effective surveillance based police state is to keep it low-profile enough that “the ordinary citizen” feels rather protected than threatened, at least until all the pieces are in place to make it permanent. First principle of 21st century police state : All those who “have nothing to hide” should not be bothered unnecessarily. This goal becomes even more complicated as with the increased availability of information on even minor everyday infringements the “moral” pressure to prosecute will rise. Intelligence agencies have always understood that effective work with interception results requires a thorough selection between cases where it is necessary to do something and those (the majority) where it is best to just be silent and enjoy.
Police forces in general (with a few exceptions) on the other hand have the duty to act upon every crime or minor infringement they get knowledge of. Of course, they have a certain amount of discretion already. With access to all the information outlined above, we will end up with a system of selective enforcement. It is impossible to live in a complex society without violating a rule here and there from time to time, often even without noticing it. If all these violations are documented and available for prosecution, the whole fabric of society changes dramatically. The old sign for totalitarian societies - arbitrary prosecution of political enemies - becomes a reality within the framework of democratic rule-of-law states. As long as the people affected can be made looking like the enemy-”theme” of the day, the system can be used to silence opposition effectively. And at some point the switch to open automated prosecution and policing can be made as any resistance to the system is by definition “terrorism”. Development of society comes to a standstill, the rules of the law and order paradise can no longer be violated.
