On March 8, our Director Silkie Carlo participated in a panel organized by BBC: The Big Questions. In it she stated that 2020 is the new 1984. She said:
“2020 is the new 1984. We’re absolutely walking into Orwellian times.
“We are losing the basic values that underpin British democracy and civil liberties and facial recognition surveillance is a great example of that. I think that we are at great risk of becoming a surveillance state.
“We are leaving records about ourselves that are being scooped up by the British state, the heart of democracy, or so it should be, which then can be accessed at any time.
“The question I want to ask is: Where are the politicians? Why aren’t they talking about this, actually protecting human rights? Where’s the action?”