How democracies and Big Tech are transforming privacy from a fundamental right to a luxury for the few.

In recent years, it seems that Western democracies are converging toward a common model: introducing mass surveillance systems and mandatory identification, justifying themselves with apparently noble objectives: the protection of minors, the fight against terrorism, national security. Yet, behind these legitimate motivations, lies a transformation of the relationship between citizen and State, where privacy is becoming a privilege of the past rather than a fundamental right.

From the repeated attempts to approve European Chat Control to British identity verifications, from the Swiss e-ID to Australian and Canadian laws, a disturbing pattern emerges: controversial legislations are approved with narrow margins or imposed from above, while citizens find themselves increasingly unable to navigate without leaving traces of their identity.

...read more at atlas21.com