Capital controls are slowly but surely coming back, it seems.
We're basically in a state of surveillance of nearly all financial transactions.
This is, of course, always a state security goal. Computers make it a lot more scary to me though. Monitoring can be a lot more personal. More individuals can be watched than ever before, with records kept accessible for longer than ever, with better software for reporting than ever before. And it's never been easier to lose control of large quantities of information now that gigabytes can be copied in seconds.
>We're basically in a state of surveillance of nearly all financial transactions.
I am absolutely convinced this is the reason. I'm reading a lot of theories that racist or anti-immigrant motivations lie behind this, but I think it simply is that the priority has shifted between the conflicting motivations of the government to spy on everything and away from facilitating illegal labor for the benefit of large businesses. I have wondered for a while now when this was going to happen because it seemed unreasonable for a surveillance state to leave such a gaping hole in its vision.
We're basically in a state of surveillance of nearly all financial transactions.
This is, of course, always a state security goal. Computers make it a lot more scary to me though. Monitoring can be a lot more personal. More individuals can be watched than ever before, with records kept accessible for longer than ever, with better software for reporting than ever before. And it's never been easier to lose control of large quantities of information now that gigabytes can be copied in seconds.