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Overton's window in action: how a pandemic is used to limit our freedom



What is the "Overton Window" can be found on the link .

In a recent interview that Edward Snowden gave the head of the independent journalistic agency VICE Media, Shane Smith, he spoke about the long-term consequences that the extraordinary powers received by governments of different countries will have in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The cybersecurity expert, in particular, said:

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Snowden knows what he is talking about, because it was he who, at the time, risking his own life, revealed the scale of espionage at the US National Security Agency, which received unprecedented powers to spy on citizens after the terrible 9/11 attacks (September 11, 2001) in the framework of called the Patriotic Act , a federal law passed in October 2001 by the US government. Earlier, Edward Snowden had already warned that increased surveillance during the crisis with the coronavirus could lead to long-term negative consequences for civil liberties.

Fear of the spread of the virus can lead to the fact that governments will send a request to each fitness tracker with data on heart rate or heart rate and require access to this data.

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There is no doubt that the total surveillance and manipulation of people desired by the authorities will be explained by concern for the safety of citizens. Can ordinary citizens do something in this case? The necessary minimum is not to succumb to the initiatives of the authorities to establish digital control. Of course, while the “digital control measures” look rather ridiculous , the Muscovites have already swallowed the restriction of their freedom hastily introduced by the Moscow city hall . Quite possibly, it was a test ball to look at the reaction of citizens who so far behave like the same frog, which, without feeling the danger of the water gradually being heated in the pan, was cooked in it.


Politicians, apparently, once again got ideas from science fiction writers: we recall the already legendary film “V” means Vendetta ”, created from the comic books of Alan Moore. To enslave the population, the government first launched the virus, and under the pretext of an epidemic, authorities announced total quarantine with curfews, and violations of the regime were brutally punished by the security service of Norsefire, the totalitarian ruling party. It is instructive that some of the viewers who watched the film accused the scriptwriter of the unrealistic nature of what was happening and claimed that “revolutions were taking place according to other scenarios” , but everything, as you know, was checked by time. We still do not need to wait for Guy Fawkes - it’s enough to organize and force the authorities to comply with the existing laws until they have crossed the same line.

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