Greens call for Labour’s ‘panopticon’ surveillance state to be rejected
The UK risks becoming an even deeper authoritarian surveillance state under Labour, warns the Scottish Greens.
The comments from Green MSP Maggie Chapman come in response to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood stating that the criminal justice system should use AI technology to create a ‘panopticon’ for state surveillance in which “the eyes of the state can be on you at all times.”
The Scottish Greens completely reject this idea, warning that it would plunge the UK into an Orwellian dystopian future, and infringe on citizens' civil liberties.
Maggie said:
“This is absolutely shocking. What Shabana Mahmood is calling for is essentially a deeply authoritarian, "big brother” state. It is totally unacceptable, and we must resist this dystopian future.
“Everyone is entitled to a level of privacy in their lives regardless of their history or wrongdoings. We know too that surveillance by the state in this way would not be restricted to potential or actual criminals.
“Once it is in place, it would obviously be used on a much wider scale. We’ve already seen this with other forms of surveillance. The notion that “if you’ve not done anything wrong you have nothing to worry about” is never justification for such widespread curtailment of civil liberties.
“We must not conflate the right to privacy with the desire to keep things secret or hidden. We must not flip the burden of proof principle onto individuals from the state. We must not assume everyone is suspicious.
“Increasing state surveillance erodes trust between institutions of the state and the people they should be there to support. It also creates a chilling effect whereby people become less likely to express themselves freely.
“AI technology will have many positive contributions to make to society. But it comes with risks and threats too - to human rights, civil liberties, societal wellbeing and our democracy. It is vulnerable to abuse and is not infallible. We cannot assume it is benign and trust it blindly.
“Bentham’s panopticon is definitely not the model we should adopt if we want an open, democratic and accountable society.”