As the pandemic rages on across the globe, we are starting to witness the implementation of unprecedented degrees of government control over the free movement of the world’s citizens.
Never before have Western nations floated such far-reaching policies to dictate the free movement of their populace and, perhaps even more concerning, Western free populations have apparently never been more willing to allow such an encroachment of the state into their private lives.
This doesn’t bode well for anyone concerned about privacy rights or a world free from mass surveillance.
Under increasing pressure to keep international travel open while preventing further COVID-19 outbreaks, a British government advisory board is calling for the employment of GPS tracking to enforce quarantine for travelers arriving in the United Kingdom without requiring them to stay in hotels.
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) has floated “electronic monitoring” to curb such requirements, which Breitbart notes the UK government has said will need to be mandatory to prevent novel variants of the coronavirus from entering the country.
According to minutes from a January 21 meeting of SAGE, “digital methods may also be possible” in addition to such quarantine requirements.
They did go on to note that there would, however, be “challenges” with electronic tracking.
Currently, there is no law requiring anyone within the UK to carry a mobile phone with them at all times.
While many may read such a proposal as Orwellian at best, it appears that a majority of the British public favors mandatory quarantines and other sacrifices to privacy rights in order to enforce continued strict lockdowns.
Breitbart reports that 70% of respondents to a January YouGov poll would back the mandated quarantine, while another found 45 per cent of respondents would back the government tracking the phones of British citizens to enforce lockdown, while 42 opposed.
Conservative MP Calls for GPS Tracking of Quarantined Britons https://t.co/Lg0Q0HP8LA
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 27, 2021
While last week the British government announced that it would be mandating a required quarantine period in hotels to new international travelers beginning February 15th, an analysis from The Telegraph found that as many as 205,000 people could enter the country with novel strains of the virus before that is put into place.
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