alt Hacker NewsI never thought of UK as a police state. How about Netherlands w a similar program? Non watchlist plates are kept for 28 days compared to most flock implementations that keep for 7
https://www.politie.nl/informatie/waar-staan-anpr-cameras.ht...
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Why not? The UK has been a police state for decades. They have a long history of mass surveillance and of cracking down on protests.
Uk has been widely know as a budding police state for years. V for Vendetta was written in the 80s partially as a commentary on the British states turn towards a police state.
This poster is from 2002:
https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/po...
The funny thing is that countries commonly called “police states” aren’t, while countries not thought of as such are.
Most Western countries have 2-3 times as many police officers per capita as China and Russia. Many people in China have had not a single encounter with authorities in their lifetime (other than basic administrative tasks).
Meanwhile, in some EU countries, you need government approval to add a roof window to your own house, and you better believe there are inspectors and fines enforcing that.
I always thought of the UK and London especially as most tightly monitored city on the planet. By far.