We’ve all noted the increase in surveillance during the pandemic, especially with use of location data for track and trace. But while you were looking over THERE, the government is quietly looking to expand other surveillance systems.
Felipe De La Hoz reports:
Through a little-discussed potential bureaucratic rule change, the Department of Homeland Security is planning to collect unprecedented levels of biometric information from immigration applicants and their sponsors — including U.S. citizens. While some types of applicants have long been required to submit photographs and fingerprints, a rule currently under consideration would require practically everyone applying for any kind of status, or detained by immigration enforcement agents, to provide iris scans, voiceprints and palmprints, and, in some cases, DNA samples.
Read more on The Intercept
Your banking data may be under additional scrutiny, too. Andrea O’Sullivan reports that:
the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department have proposed expanding what is called the “travel rule” to capture international funds transfers above $250. Currently, financial institutions are required to make certain reports on customers when they send international transactions in excess of $3,000. This has been the threshold since the travel rule was first adopted in the U.S. in 1996, despite inflation since then.
Read more on Reason.
Thanks to Joe Cadillic, who sends along these news items from his dedicated searches. We all need to keep our eye on the big picture and how government, once it expands surveillance, never shrinks it back and only expands it more.