Hong Kong wants to ban protesters from wearing facial masks as France gets close to implementing massive facial recognition program
Swiss infrared facial recognition camera (Wikipedia)
Hong Kong government officials are not pleased that protesters wear masks to block facial recognition:
Hong Kong protests: Authorities to announce face mask ban
3 October 2019
Officials plan to use emergency legislation dating from the colonial era to invoke the measure, aimed at quelling anti-government protests. …
Critics feared this could undermine the city’s judicial independence and endanger dissidents.
The face mask ban is expected to be announced on Friday after a meeting of the Executive Council in which emergency laws are likely to be enacted, local TV channel TVB reported.
The laws would grant Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, the authority to “make any regulations whatsoever which he [or she] may consider desirable in the public interest” in case of “emergency or public danger”. …
Face masks are often worn by protesters to help prevent them from being identified and arrested by authorities. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49918889
Lest this just seem like an Asian approach, consider that various European nations have banned the wearing of face-covering burkas for Muslim women, even when they are not protesting anything.
Furthermore, notice what France looks to do next month:
France Set to Roll Out Nationwide Facial Recognition ID Program
France is poised to become the first European country to use facial recognition technology to give citizens a secure digital identity — whether they want it or not.
Saying it wants to make the state more efficient, President Emmanuel Macron’s government is pushing through plans to roll out an ID program, dubbed Alicem, in November, earlier than an initial Christmas target. The country’s data regulator says the program breaches the European rule of consent and a privacy group is challenging it in France’s highest administrative court. It took a hacker just over an hour to break into a “secure” government messaging app this year, raising concerns about the state’s security standards. …
France says the ID system won’t be used to keep tabs on residents. Unlike in China and Singapore, the country won’t be integrating the facial recognition biometric into citizens’ identity databases. In fact, the interior ministry, which developed the Alicem app, says the facial recognition data collected will be deleted when the enrollment process is over. That hasn’t stopped people from worrying about its potential misuse.
“Rushing into facial recognition at this point is a major risk” because of uncertainties on its final use, said Didier Baichere, a governing-party lawmaker who sits on the Parliament’s “future technologies” commission and is the author of a July report on the subject. Allowing mass-usage before putting in place proper checks and balances is “ludicrous,” he said. …
Opposition lawmakers worry about the integration of facial recognition into laws to track violent protesters like during Yellow Vests demonstrations. Drago, who’s challenging government plans on privacy and consent issues, said the absence of a debate “lets the state move ahead, without roadblocks.”
Meanwhile, facial recognition tests are multiplying. Live camera surveillance in the streets of Wales was judged legal this month by a London court. Germany, The Netherlands and Italy use it for fast tracking borders checks. In August, Sweden’s Data Protection Authority fined the municipality of Skelleftea for testing facial recognition on high school students to measure attendance. Apple Inc. trivialized its use as a biometric to unlock mobile phones.
Front-Runner?
The EU’s new Commission, whose mandate begins in November, has among its goals the building of a “Europe fit for the Digital Age.” An internal policy document by the Commission detailed the steps the EU should take to master Artificial Intelligence technologies, including facial recognition. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-03/french-liberte-tested-by-nationwide-facial-recognition-id-plan?srnd=premium
Despite temporary limits, this is another step towards governments becoming more Orwellian/totalitarian. Notice that Artificial Intelligence is expected to be related to it.
A couple of weeks ago, ZeroHedge posted the following:
Orwellian Nightmare: Six US Cities Make List Of Most Surveilled Places In The World
A new report from Comparitech, a technology research firm, details how an Orwellian society, very similar to what was written in George Orwell’s (non-fiction) novel 1984, is playing out across cities in the US. According to Comparitech, six US cities made the top 50 list of the most surveilled places in the world.
Why? Because closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the US have increased from 33 million in 2012 to nearly 62 million in 2016 and could double or triple from there in the next five years. Both government and private sources operate these cameras in cities. …
Privacy rights groups, including the Anti Surveillance Coalition (ASC), have called for San Diego to stop surveilling its citizens through cameras.
“I understand that there may be benefits to crime prevention, but the point is, we have rights and until we talk about privacy rights and our concerns, then we can’t have the rest of the conversation,” Genevieve Jones-Wright of the ASC told NBC San Diego.
And last week, we reported that Edward Snowden laid it all out for both The Guardian and Spiegel Online, in a Moscow interview to promote his new 432-page book, Permanent Record, which will be published worldwide on Tuesday, September 17.
The infamous whistleblower said: “The greatest danger still lies ahead, with the refinement of artificial intelligence capabilities, such as facial and pattern recognition.” Adding that, “An AI-equipped surveillance camera would be not a mere recording device, but could be made into something closer to an automated police officer.”
With more and more US cities entering the Minority Report dystopia, there is no turning back for cities like Atlanta, Washington, DC, San Francisco, San Diego, and Boston after the implementation of mass surveillance cameras. Artificial intelligence will be the next layer added to these cameras in the early 2020s, acting as automated police officers, as individual rights and privacy are inexorably stripped away in the US government’s quest for supreme control over everything. 09/22/19 https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/orwellian-nightmare-six-us-cities-make-list-most-surveilled-places-world
Yes, Artificial Intelligence combined with surveillance cameras, etc., is leading to coming totalitarian control.
Back in December 2018, I posted the following:
The Elite Are Creating An Authoritarian ‘Beast System’, And Those That Dissent Could Lose EVERYTHING
They are transforming the Internet into the greatest tool of surveillance that humanity has ever seen, and if we stay on the road that we are currently on it is only a matter of time until our society becomes a hellish dystopian nightmare. I wish that this was an exaggeration, but it isn’t.Over the past couple of decades, the Internet has completely changed the way that we all communicate with one another. At one time, all forms of mass communication were tightly controlled by the elite, but the Internet suddenly allowed us to communicate with one another on a massive scale without having to go through their gatekeepers. This radically altered the landscape, and at first the elite were unsure of how to respond to this growing threat. There was no way that they could roll back time to an era before the Internet was invented, and so they have decided to use it for their own insidious purposes instead.
Today, the Internet has become the centerpiece of their “Big Brother surveillance grid”, and they are gathering information on all of us on a scale that has never been seen before in all of human history. But of course it was never going to stop there.
In China they call it a “social credit score”, but in reality it is nightmarish authoritarianism at its worst.
They are monitoring all that their citizens do and think – their political opinions, their shopping patterns, their travel history, their Internet behavior, etc. – and if they upset “the Beast system” then they could ultimately lose access to everything.
Put yourself in their shoes for a moment.
Just imagine a world in which you will no longer be able to buy, sell, open a bank account, get a loan, use public transportation or get a job.
Chinese authorities are even putting up surveillance cameras in the schools so that they can constantly monitor students…
While not yet as advanced as what the Chinese have done, our own version of “the Beast system” is expanding with each passing day.
If you use the Internet, the technocratic elite know virtually everything about you. And as we have seen so frequently in recent months, they also have the power to “deplatform” those that they do not like…
One wrong opinion, and you can lose a social media account that you spent years building up. And one wrong statement can cost you a career that you spent years training for.
Ultimately, we are heading down the exact same path that China has gone. Their “social credit score” system is being hailed as the next great thing all over the world, and those that hate freedom of speech can’t wait to fully implement such a system in the western world. 12/03/18 http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-elite-are-creating-an-authoritarian-beast-system-and-those-that-dissent-could-lose-everything
But could it happen also in the West?
Certainly.
Consider the following, earlier this year, from the Washington Post:
More border surveillance tech could be worse for human rights than a wall
President Trump wants a border wall — a symbolic monument to xenophobia and hate. But Democrats’ counterproposal could be even more dangerous for human rights. …
Democratic appropriators appear ready to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on “new cutting edge technology along the border to improve situational awareness.” If this sounds a bit dystopian, that is because it is. Lawmakers are not just proposing more cameras at ports of entry — they are pushing for the federal government to spend enormous amounts of money on technologies that can be used to trample human rights at an unprecedented scale.
Entering talks, Democrats supported more funding for the Border Patrol’s “air and marine operations” — which technology experts say is probably code for expanding U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s fleet of drones. The CBP already has the largest such fleet outside of the Defense Department and frequently “shares” its aircraft with law enforcement.
Under current policies, video feeds and other data from those flights can be stored indefinitely in massive databases and shared with hundreds of government agencies and local police. We should be cautious about expanding these drone capabilities because technology originally deployed at the border or in war zones does not tend to stay there. Too often, it later gets used against marginalized populations or political dissidents: An aerial surveillance system explicitly designed for military use in Iraq was later used to watch the residents of Baltimore, for example, and police in the San Francisco Bay area were caught using drones to spy on peaceful protesters in 2017. …
Democrats have also called for “an expansion of risk-based targeting,” which means increasing the use of artificial intelligence software to determine which travelers should be detained and subjected to invasive screening, interrogation or incarceration. Numerous civil rights groups have spoken out about the dangers of using this type of technology in law enforcement: Artificial intelligence programs — created by humans, with human biases — frequently exhibit racial bias and can exacerbate existing forms of systemic discrimination. …
Lacking meaningful oversight, there is essentially no limit to the ways the government could abuse this kind of data, which includes personal details like family history and health information. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/02/13/more-border-surveillance-tech-could-be-worse-human-rights-than-wall/?utm_term=.771270076cdd
This brings to mind 666 (Revelation 13:18).
Since the US and EU wants to do more with Artificial Intelligence, the following BNP video also came to mind:
Artificial Intelligence and Prophecy
Billionaire Elon Musk declared he was worried that artificial intelligence (AI) may lead to the rise of an “immortal dictator,” a “godlike” entity that could take over the world. Is this accurate, or at least, close in some ways? Does Bible prophecy foretell of the rise of an immoral leader who considers himself above all gods? Will this result in great destruction? What is AI? How might it fit in with various prophecies? Was the increase of technological knowledge we now have prophesied over 2000 years ago? Will 666 control over buying and selling involve any form of AI? Dr. Thiel goes over many scriptures, including prophetic ones, that involve human knowledge–which is the basis of AI. He also points out that when various prophesies were made, there was no technology capable of fulfilling them, but that because of computers, such ability exists now. Dr. Thiel also points out what Jesus will do about it.
Here is a link to our video: Artificial Intelligence and Prophecy.
As far as a ‘surveillance police state’ goes, this is something that Church of God writers have expected for some time.
Decades ago, an article titled ENTERING THE AGE OF TERROR in the old Plain Truth magazine in June 1977 said that as a response to terrorism we may see “That was written in the 20th century, when the technology for police-state controls were nothing like we see now.
Parts of a surveillance police state are now already in place, with even more planned.
The technology exists to make it worse.
The end result will be bad.
As I have written in the past, it will arise in Europe. Europe will get together because of fear, economic factors, and a distrust of the US for military protection and other reasons. The Europeans, Asians, and Americans are spending billions to get there.
Notice the following from the Bible:
1 Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation;
Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
From the rebellion of the workers of iniquity,
3 Who sharpen their tongue like a sword,
And bend their bows to shoot their arrows — bitter words,
4 That they may shoot in secret at the blameless;
Suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear.5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter;
They talk of laying snares secretly;
They say, “Who will see them?”
6 They devise iniquities:
“We have perfected a shrewd scheme.”
Both the inward thought and the heart of man are deep. (Psalms 64:1-6)
And while you might think that if you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear from surveillance, consider that many in the government of the USA consider that not supporting homosexual marriages, cross-dressing, etc. are extremist. I also saw someone once on a documentary that stated that people who believed in the millennium could not be trusted and should be considered as potential terrorists. The fact that we in the Continuing Church of God would be considered pacifists, does not change the fact that since we hold to millennial and other biblical views that we will not be improperly classified by government employees with various agendas.
Belief in the Bible is sufficient cause to be considered a threat to human dignity or at least a religious extremist.
Notice the stunning conclusion from a British court a reader sent me a link to today:
On Tuesday, a British court ruled that belief in the Bible was “incompatible with human dignity.”
That statement came in a case involving Dr. David Mackereth, a devout Christian who had worked as an emergency doctor for the National Health Service for 26 years. He said he was fired from his job because he refused to call a biological man a woman. The court’s ruling stated: “Belief in Genesis 1:27, lack of belief in transgenderism and conscientious objection to transgenderism in our judgment are incompatible with human dignity and conflict with the fundamental rights of others, specifically here, transgender individuals.” The court added. “… in so far as those beliefs form part of his wider faith, his wider faith also does not satisfy the requirement of being worthy of respect in a democratic society, not incompatible with human dignity and not in conflict with the fundamental rights of others.” …
ps, told the court, “His belief in the truth of the Bible, and in particular, the truth of Genesis 1:27: ‘So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.’ It follows that every person is created by God as either male or female. A person cannot change their sex/gender at will. Any attempt at, or pretense of, doing so, is pointless, self-destructive, and sinful.”
Mackereth had told the court that the idea of transgenderism is a “rebellion against God, which is both pointless and sinful … I am, of course, aware that there are men or women who believe they have been trapped in a wrong body, and I do not question the sincerity of their convictions. A small number of such people have always existed. Up until recently, such a belief was considered by medics to be delusional and a symptom of a medical disorder. It is only recently that transgenderism has been recognized as normal and such delusional beliefs accepted at face value. What is responsible for that change is political pressure, not scientific evidence.” 10/02/19 https://www.dailywire.com/news/british-court-in-transgender-case-bible-belief-is-incompatible-with-human-dignity
Notice that it said belief in scripture is INCOMPATIBLE with the LGBTQ supporting crowd’s view of human dignity. Even though what they engage in is sinful and is an affront to human dignity.
And the USA? Notice the following:
Douglas Laycock, a law professor at the University of Virginia, has been a longtime supporter of same-sex marriage. … Laycock has also been a longtime supporter of enacting a federal gay-rights non-discrimination law, but he doesn’t support the Equality Act, a bill just approved by the House of Representatives that would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, because it would “crush” conscientious objectors.
“It goes very far to stamp out religious exemptions,” Laycock tells National Review in an email. “It regulates religious non-profits. And then it says that [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act] does not apply to any claim under the Equality Act. This would be the first time Congress has limited the reach of RFRA. This is not a good-faith attempt to reconcile competing interests. It is an attempt by one side to grab all the disputed territory and to crush the other side.” 05/17/19 https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/05/law-professor-explains-why-the-equality-act-would-crush-religious-dissenters/
Yes, the USA is getting closer to crushing more its religious freedoms as well.
So, we should not be surprised that the Beast in Europe will be even more totalitarian.
Bible prophecy warns about a power that will have a tremendous amount of control and even understand secret/hidden things:
15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. (Revelation 13:15-18, NKJV)
23 ‘And in the latter end of their kingdom, about the perfecting of the transgressors, stand up doth a king, fierce of face, and understanding hidden things; (Daniel 8:23, Young’s Literal Translation)
It will likely take computers aided with artificial intelligence to aid in the fulfillment of the above scriptures, as well as cyber-spying/monitoring.
The world in general, and Europe in particular is moving more and more towards becoming a totalitarian state.
It is likely that, although the USA is NEITHER the Beast of the Sea nor the Beast of the Earth in Revelation 13, some in the USA are already helping Europe to get to the point of fulfilling surveillance and authoritarian prophecies (more of this in the future is hinted at in Daniel 11:28-30; see also Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word).
The USA is also moving towards being a totalitarian state.
And, that will not end up helping the USA as that European state will turn against it per Daniel 11:39 (see also USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses).
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word What is the ‘short work’ of Romans 9:28? Who is preparing for it? Here is a link to a related video sermon titled: The Short Work.
Persecutions by Church and State This article documents some that have occurred against those associated with the COGs and some prophesied to occur. Will those with the cross be the persecutors or the persecuted–this article has the shocking answer. There is also a YouTube video sermon you can watch: The Coming Persecution of the Church. Here is information in the Spanish language: Persecuciones de la Iglesia y el Estado.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. Here are links to three related sermons: The Mark of Antichrist What is the mark of Antichrist? What have various ones claimed? Here is a link to a related sermon What is the ‘Mark of Antichrist’?
Mark of the Beast What is the mark of the Beast? Who is the Beast? What have various ones claimed the mark is? What is the ‘Mark of the Beast’?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
European Technology and the Beast of Revelation Will the coming European Beast power would use and develop technology that will result in the taking over of the USA and its Anglo-Saxon allies? Is this possible? What does the Bible teach? Here is a related YouTube video: Military Technology and the Beast of Revelation.
Some Doctrines of Antichrist Are there any doctrines taught outside the Churches of God which can be considered as doctrines of antichrist? This article suggests at least three. It also provides information on 666 and the identity of “the false prophet.” Plus it shows that several Catholic writers seem to warn about an ecumenical antipope that will support heresy. You can also watch a video titled What Does the Bible teach about the Antichrist?
Two Horned Beast of Revelation and 666 Who is 666? This article explains how the COG views this, and compares this to Ellen White. Here is a link to a prophetic video Six Financial Steps Leading to 666?
Asia in Prophecy What is Ahead for Asia? Who are the “Kings of the East”? What will happen to nearly all the Chinese, Russians, Indians, and others of Asia? China in prophecy, where? Who has the 200,000,000 man army related to Armageddon? Two YouTube video are Is China THE Threat to the United States of America? and China: A King of the East.
Cross-dressing and other assaults against your children. What should you do? Is there an agenda to turn your children and/or grandchildren away from biblical morality and towards practices promoted by homosexuals? What does the Bible teach about cross-dressing? What should parents do? If there is an agenda, what has been going on? There are also three YouTube videos related to this, titled Transgender ‘Woe to those who call evil good’ and Cross dressing and Other Assaults Against Your Children and USA pushing gender confusion.
The Bible Condemns Homosexuality “Same-sex marriage” for “gays” and lesbians is becoming more acceptable to many. What does the Bible teach about homosexuality and the LGBTQ agenda? Can homosexuals change? A related video sermon is titled: What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? A short video is available titled: Gay Gene? Born That Way?
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Saxon (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo-Saxon nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? Here is a link to the Spanish version of this article: Anglo-América & las Tribus Perdidas de Israel. A video of possible interest may be Will USA Spying Help the Beast Power?
Leading the Final Phase of the Work Matthew 24:14 teaches “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come ” will be fulfilled and RCG is not the group doing this. Who is leading the final phase of the work? What did Herbert Armstrong and the old WCG teach about that and about prophets? Does Bob Thiel meet the criteria that the Bible and the old WCG set? What is the proof? What has the Continuing Church of God been doing? This is a sermonette length video.
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies for the Great Monarch point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States? In the Spanish language check out ¿Quién es el Rey del Norte? Here is a link to a video titled: The Future King of the North.
Internet Control, Famine of the Word, and 666 On October 1, 2016, the USA officially relinquished control over the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), despite objections from certain political leaders and former military officials. Might this lead to more censorship, imposition on non-biblical ‘community standards,’ and loss of first amendment rights? Could this transfer of control have any prophetic ramifications? Will the internet be a factor in the ‘short work’ of Romans 9:28 and the coming ‘famine of the word’ that the Prophet Amos warned about? Will internet control be something that the 666 power will have? Dr. Thiel addresses these matters and more in this video.
USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses Can you point to scriptures, like Daniel 11:39, that point to the USA in the 21st century? This article does. A related sermon is titled: Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?
Who is the King of the West? Why is there no Final End-Time King of the West in Bible Prophecy? Is the United States the King of the West? Here is a version in the Spanish language: ¿Quién es el Rey del Occidente? ¿Por qué no hay un Rey del Occidente en la profecía del tiempo del fin? A related sermon is also available: The Bible, the USA, and the King of the West.
The Final Phase of the Work What is the final phase of the work? Who will lead it? Do you have the courage to support it? Here is a related YouTube video titled The Final Phase of the Work. The written article has been translated into Spanish La Fase Final de la Obra.
Donald Trump in Prophecy Prophecy, Donald Trump? Are there prophecies that Donald Trump may fulfill? Are there any prophecies that he has already helped fulfill? Is a Donald Trump presidency proving to be apocalyptic? Two related videos are available: Donald: ‘Trump of God’ or Apocalyptic? and Donald Trump’s Prophetic Presidency.
Trump Presidency Magic 8 Ball or Bible Prophecy? BBC reported that one might as well use a ‘Magic Eight-Ball’ to try to predict what will happen in the remaining time of Donald Trump’s presidency. What is a ‘Magic Eight-Ball’? Dr. Thiel not only explains that, but also briefly goes over 10 biblically-based warnings he wrote would happen if Donald Trump were elected that have already began to come to pass. He also goes over something he wrote back in 2008 that the Trump presidency is also helping lead to fulfillment. Should you trust Bible prophecy or not? Dr. Thiel says that Bible prophecy can be trusted, despite the view of skeptics and others that either overlook or despise the Bible. This is a video.
Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse This 188 page book is for people truly interested in prophecies related to Donald Trump and the United States, including learning about several that have already been fulfilled and those that will be fulfilled in the future. The physical book can be purchased at Amazon for $12.99 from the following link: Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse.
Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse-Kindle Edition This electronic version of the 188 page print edition is available for only US$3.99. And you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to for your free Kindle reader and then go to Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse-Kindle Edition.
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