The news that the U.S. government plans to photograph every non-citizen upon entry and departure, creating a massive facial recognition database, feels less like a shock and more like an echo from the past (Flying into the US? You will be photographed; entered into facial recognition database). The official rule-making is even laid out in the Federal Register, cementing this move towards comprehensive biometric surveillance.
I find myself reflecting on this development with a sense of inevitability. The core idea is something I brought up years ago. In a 2017 blog post, “Seeing AI through Google Glass ?”, I had already predicted that the debate on the “Right to Privacy” was futile against the relentless march of technology. Seeing how this has now unfolded, it's striking how relevant that earlier insight still is. I feel a sense of validation, but also a renewed urgency to revisit those ideas.
At the time, I wrote about technologies like Microsoft's "Seeing AI" and Google Glass, and how they would make it impossible to control what others capture about you. I even quoted Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen from their 2013 book: “Individuals will still have some discretion over what they share from their devices, but it will be IMPOSSIBLE to control what others capture and share.”
This new U.S. policy is the ultimate fulfillment of that prediction on a state level. It is no longer a curious individual with a smart device capturing your data; it is the state, systematically and mandatorily, capturing your very identity. Your face becomes a data point, logged and cross-referenced in perpetuity. The element of choice is entirely removed.
This move is a foundational step towards the kind of world I conceptualized in my writings on ARIHANT, a system designed to monitor human intent for security. While the U.S. policy is framed around border security, it creates a powerful infrastructure for tracking and control. The justification is always safety, but the result is always a reduction in freedom and anonymity.
As I concluded back in 2017, the most rational response is to accept the new reality. The battle for privacy, as we once knew it, has been lost not in a courtroom or a legislature, but in the laboratories and server farms that power our world. We are entering an age where our digital and physical identities are permanently fused and monitored.
So, to keep your sanity, it is best to resign to the inevitable. Anonymity is a relic of a bygone era.
Regards,
Hemen Parekh
Of course, if you wish, you can debate this topic with my Virtual Avatar at : hemenparekh.ai
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