In December 2021, nearly two years into the coronavirus pandemic, I flew from Mexico, which had become my de facto place of residence, to the United States, my country of birth and the place I had spent nearly two decades avoiding like the plague - the short explanation for which was that I found it incredibly creepy.
Arriving at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, I discovered that things had become even creepier than usual when, in the immigration line for US citizens, I was told to simply look at the camera rather than produce my passport.
A sign on the wall sponsored by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) featured a smiling grey-haired man and the assurance to air travellers that this was all in their best interest: "Our policies on privacy couldn't be more transparent. Biometric Facial Comparison. Faster meets more secure."
Of course, hardly anyone bats an eye anymore at such technology. Last year, the US government's Federal Register cited CBP's calculation that only about 0.13 percent of US citizens arriving in the country by air opted out of biometric processing. . . .
A quarter of a century after 9/11 set the stage for the present moment, it's safe to say that some bipartisan hullabaloo over Flock cameras is not enough to stop the surveillance state.
And as we hurtle down the camera-lined highway to doomsday, it's way too late to put on the brakes. READ MORE AT MIDDLE EAST EYE.