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Investors are Skeptical that the Fed can Achieve a Soft-Landing. Can the BOE do Better?

Overview:  The markets continue to digest the implications of yesterday’s Fed move and Beijing’s signals of more economic supportive efforts as the Bank…

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Overview:  The markets continue to digest the implications of yesterday's Fed move and Beijing's signals of more economic supportive efforts as the Bank of England's move awaited.  The US 5–10-year curve is straddling inversion and the 2-10 curve has flattened as the Fed moves from one horn of the dilemma (behind the inflation curve) to the other horn (recession fears).  Asia Pacific equities extended yesterday's surge.  The Hang Seng led the charge with a 6.7% gain.  Taiwan's benchmark rose 3% and the Nikkei gained 2.5%.  Europe's Stoxx 600 is posting small gains and US futures are paring yesterday's late gains.  The US 10-year yield is near 2.11% after poking briefly above 2.2% yesterday.  European bond yields are mostly 2-3 bp lower.  Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Saudi Arabia hiked 25 bp to as their currency pegs required.  The dollar initially rallied on the Fed statement but unwound the gains during the Chair Powell's press conference.  It is lower against most currencies today.  The Australian dollar is the strongest of the majors, helped by better-than-expected jobs report.  The emerging market currencies are led today by the South Korean won, whose gains appeared to be fueled by strong demand for its bonds today.  Gold traded below $1900 yesterday before recovering.  That recovery is being extended today and the yellow metal is near $1944. There may be potential toward $1962 in the next day or two.  April WTI appears to have forged a base around $93-$94 and is trying to test $100.  US natgas is firm after yesterday's 4% gain.  Europe's natgas benchmark is recouping half of yesterday's 6.7% decline.  Iron ore eased after jumping 8.5% yesterday.  Copper is extending yesterday's gains and is up about 1.4%.  May wheat is consolidating after falling near 7.5% yesterday. 

Asia Pacific

China has underscored the shift from structural reforms to growth, which many market observers had already detected.  However, investors now need to see the proof of the pudding, so to speak, which is to say policy adjustments.  It could happen with the setting of the loan prime rates on Monday in Beijing, but more observers are talking about a cut in reserve requirements in the coming weeks.  

Australia employment rose 77.4k, more than twice the median forecast in Bloomberg's survey.  The details were even stronger.  Full-time positions rose by nearly 122k last month after a revised 6.1k decline in January (originally it fell by 17k).  The unemployment rate fell to 4.0% from 4.2%, even though the participation rate rose to 66.4% from 66.2%.  Australia’s short-term bond yields rose 3-4 bp as the many the data brining forward an RBA rate hike.  The odds of a move at the end of Q2 has increased.  

The BOJ meeting concludes tomorrow and standing pat will underscore the growing divergence with the US and others' monetary policy.  The fiscal year end is approaching, and Japanese purchases/sales of foreign bonds and stocks remains subdued, but foreign investors for the second week have been significant sellers of Japanese stocks and buyers of Japanese bonds. 

The dollar rose slightly through JPY119.10 yesterday and is consolidating below that today.  The JPY118.60, which we targeted last week, now offers support. Note that the upper Bollinger Band comes in today near JPY118.70. The Australian dollar jumped 1.35% yesterday, its largest rise since early November 2020.  It is extending the gains today and is approaching the (61.8%) retracement objective of the decline since reached $0.7440 earlier this month.  That retracement objective is near $0.7335. and above there, last week's high near $0.7375 may draw attention.  Recall that the greenback gapped higher against the Chinese yuan on Monday and Tuesday.  It filled Tuesday's gap yesterday and entered Monday's gap today without filling it.  The bottom of the gap is just below CNY6.34.  The PBOC set the dollar's reference rate at CNY6.3406.  The median projection in Bloomberg's survey was for CNY6.3360.  

Europe

The Bank of England is awaited.  The swaps market has about a 1-in-4 chance that it delivers a 50 bp move today, with odds-on favorite scenario of a 25 bp move.  The BOE is likely to raise its inflation outlook, and this will serve to underscore the policy path.  Today's move will be the third hike in a row and will bring the base rate up to where it was before the pandemic struck.  A 25 bp increase will bring the base rate to 0.75%.  When it reaches 1.0% (May), the BOE has said it could (but not will) reduce its balance sheet more actively by selling securities rather than just passively through not re-investing maturing proceeds.  

The Governor of Sweden's Riksbank indicated that its first rate hike will likely be delivered before the second half of 2024, which it had previously anticipated.  Ingves warned that inflation was too high.  Using fixed mortgage rates, the underlying inflation stood at 4.3% in February, and the core underlying rate, which excludes energy is at 3.4%. The next Riksbank meeting is late next month, but the focus of the first hike is now in September.  

The US says that the sanctions on Russia do not prohibit Moscow from servicing its dollar debt until May.  Russia, trying to conserve is hard currency reserves that it has access, has also made this more difficult and many expect a default in Q2.  Separately, note that India, which abstained in the UN vote condemning the Russian invasion, appears to be exercising an option in an earlier agreement to buy more Russian oil.   Russian oil is trading, as one would imagine, as a deep discount, and Russia covers shipping and insurance costs. The White House press secretary indicated that India's purchases are not violating US sanctions.  

The euro reached a five-day high in early European turnover today, slightly above $1.1065.  Last week's high was near $1.1120.  Ahead of that is the 20-day moving average around $1.1095.  Recall that in response to the Fed's statement yesterday, the euro recorded session lows by $1.0950 before recovering to new session highs.   We suspect the high for the day may have been approached, with initial support now pegged in the $1.1000-$1.1020 band.  When the euro was on its lows yesterday, sterling dipped below $1.3050 and then reversed higher to rally a cent.  Those gains were extended today to $1.3190.  Sterling also looks poised for a buy the rumor sell the fact type of trading like dollar did yesterday in response to the Fed.  Initial support is seen near $1.3150 and then $1.3100. 

America

The dollar typically rallies ahead of the first Fed hike in recent cycles and then weakens as tightening phase progresses.  Research from the Bank of International Settlements finds an average decline of a little more than 4%.  Part of the reason may stem from the Fed's inability to achieve the proverbial "soft-landing" to bring down inflation without inducing a recession.  Many are skeptical that a soft-landing can be achieved now, in part because the Fed waited too long to halt the asset purchases.  And despite the drama when "transitory" was jettisoned from Fed-speak about inflation, the Fed's new forecasts show that is still the median case.  The PCE deflator stood at 6.1% in January, and the median Fed forecast sees it at 4.3% at the end of this year and 2.7% next year, and 2.3% in 2024.  Moreover, many observers are also finding it hard to reckon the Fed's tightening pace and slower GDP with the median dot seeing unemployment at 3.5% this year and next.  

The Fed meeting probably reduces the focus on today's high-frequency data, which includes industrial production, housing starts and permits, weekly jobless claims and the March Philadelphia Fed survey.  Note that after yesterday's retail sales data, the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow tracker increased its Q1 estimate to 1.2% from 0.5% (from March 8).  For many, like ourselves, that see the odds high of a recession, do not see the contraction as imminent, but perhaps beginning late this year or, more likely a 2023 story.  

Canada's February CPI reported yesterday was stronger than expected at 5.7% (median forecast was for 5.55) after 5.1% in January.  The average of the underlying measures also rose.   The Bank of Canada meets next on April 13.  The swaps market is pricing in almost a 68% chance of a 50 bp move.  The balance sheet could begin shrinking in May. 

As widely anticipated Brazil's central bank hiked the Selic Rate by 100 bp to 11.75%.  It has now hiked rates 975 bp over the past 12 months.  Inflation is running above 10%.  Petrobras lifted diesel prices by 25% and this warns of more upside inflation risk.  Still, a survey by the central bank found expectations for inflation to fall back to 6.45% at the end of this year and 3.7% next year.   Mexico and Chile also expected to hike rates later this month (March 24 and March 29 respectively).  

The US dollar peaked on Tuesday near CAD1.2870 before reversing lower.  It continued to give back its recent gains yesterday, falling to CAD1.2675.  It continues to trade heavily and approached CAD1.2650 in the European morning. There is an option for about $325 mln at CAD1.2635 that expires today.  The low from earlier this month was set near CAD1.2585 and the 200-day moving average is found slightly above CAD1.2600.  The greenback's high for the month was set on March 8 against the Mexican peso a little below MXN21.47.  It slipped below MXN20.60 yesterday and is in a tight range in near there today.   The month's low was recorded close to MXN20.39, a little below the 200-day moving average (~MXN20.42).  The US dollar was turned back earlier this week after approaching BRL5.17.  It looks poised to rechallenge the BRL5.00 area.

*Note due to business travel, there will be no commentary tomorrow


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Successful explorer begins drilling at historic high-grade copper mine

Northstar Gold Corp. (CSE:NSG) recently began diamond drilling the historic Cam Copper Mine at its 100%-owned flagship Miller Property.
The post Successful…

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Copper prices have made a comeback, rebounding from its US$2 lows to consistently sell above US$3 per pound for the past two years.

This is good news for resource companies with copper assets, and another feather in the cap for Northstar Gold Corp. (CSE:NSG), which recently began diamond drilling the historic Cam Copper Mine at its 100-per-cent-owned flagship Miller Property, situated 18 kilometres southeast of Kirkland Lake, Ontario.

The Cam Copper Mine is a road accessible satellite high-grade copper system situated 2.4 km southwest of the Allied Gold Zone, an advanced, near-surface bulk-tonnage gold-telluride Exploration Target also being actively explored by Northstar at the Miller Property. High-grade copper assays ranging between 0.99 per cent and 31.8 per cent copper were recently returned from 19 select surface grab samples at Cam Copper, containing massive to semi-massive sulphides (including massive chalcopyrite and bornite) from dumps and exposures near the shaft, that averaged 14 per cent copper.

Surface samples were submitted to ALS Global at their Timmins, Ontario, facility for sample preparation and forwarded to ALS Global in Vancouver, British Columbia, for analyses.

The Cam Copper Mine is reportedly host to two separate lenses (Zone 1 and Zone 2) of massive copper sulphides (with strong VMS characteristics) about 40 metres apart, striking and plunging southeast along the contact with the Round Lake Granite Batholith.

While the company’s primary focus remains golden, Northstar believes Cam Copper represents a unique, near-surface, high-grade copper exploration opportunity that can be advanced relatively cheaply and can capitalize on current bullish copper sentiments.

A deeper look at the project’s results

Northstar’s intent is to verify a volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) paragenesis at Cam Copper Mine, discover new copper zones, replicate and expand upon historic Zone 1 drill hole intercepts that include 12.4 per cent Cu over 2.4 metres (Hole No. 3), 7.0 per cent Cu over 1.8 metres (Hole No.4) and Zone 2 intercepts including 23.1 per cent Cu over 1.4 metres (Hole No. 4) and 9.6 per cent Cu over 2.6 metres (Hole 2-1).

Cam Copper Mine 3D model, mineralized zones, historic diamond drill resultsand proposed drilling. Source: Northstar Gold Corp.

Historic drilling intercepts in Zone 1 by Consolidated Golden Arrow Mines Ltd. at the Cam Copper Mine include:

1.6 per cent Cu over 2.0 metres in DDH 1 9.8 per cent Cu over 1.21 metre in DDH 1A 12.4 per cent Cu over 2.36 metre in DDH 3 7.0 per cent Cu over 1.82 metre in DDH 4

Average sampling grade reported in Zone 1 was 8.5 per cent Cu over a true width of 4.4′ (1.33 metre) indicated over 30.3 metres along strike.

Historic drilling intercepts by Consolidated Golden Arrow Mines Ltd. in Zone 2 include:

10.5 per cent Cu over 0.15 metre in DDH 2 19.9 per cent Cu over 0.94 metre in DDH 3 23.1 per cent Cu over 1.39 metre in DDH 4 —> down plunge extension below workings 12.4 per cent Cu over 1.0 metre in DDH 7 —> down plunge extension below workings

Average sampling grade reported in Zone 2 was 10 per cent Cu over a true width of 0.85 metres indicated over 42.4 metres along strike.

About the Miller Property

Northstar’s strategy at the Miller Property is to develop either a minimum material (+1 million ounce) high-grade gold mineral resource to potentially supplement a nearby mining operation or a stand-alone mining operation.    

Since going public by IPO in late 2020, Northstar has spent more than $4.7 million in exploration at Miller, resulting in the discovery of broad, near-surface, shallow dipping sheeted quartz-gold-telluride vein structures in the Allied Syenite (Allied Gold Zone) and Planet Syenites. Diamond drilling has returned numerous 70 to 750 gold gram/metre drill hole intercepts, including 6.6 g/t Au over 117.0 metres, 4.0 g/t Au over 50.6 metres, 1.4 g/t Au over 118.5 metres, and 1.2 g/t Au over 107.3 metres. 

As a precursor to a Mineral Resource Estimate and for reporting purposes, the company commissioned SRK Consulting (Canada) in 2022 to conduct an Exploration Target Study of the Miller Property Allied Gold Zone and No. 1 Vein. An upper range exceeding 500,000 ounces of near-surface, bulk tonnage gold averaging 2.04 g/t Au has been referenced in this study.

The Miller Property is prospective for the discovery of large-scale, high-grade gold and copper deposits comparable to a number of developed and pending mines in the Kirkland Lake and Noranda camps, respectively. Kirkland Lake gold deposits have historically produced more than 24 M oz. of gold from seven mines.

Cam Copper Mine geology and location map. Source: Northstar Gold Corp. Northstar Gold management’s take

Northstar President, CEO and Director Brian P. Fowler, P.Geo. said in a recent news release that the Cam Copper Mine represents a unique and compelling high-grade copper exploration opportunity that dovetails with Ontario’s critical minerals exploration focus.

While gold exploration at the Miller Property continues to have significant upside and remains a focus of the company, Northstar sees significant expansion upside at Cam Copper that can be more easily fast tracked. Phase I drilling is aimed to substantiate this.”

Investment corner

The price of copper serves as a leading economic indicator because it is used in so many sectors of the economy. When the price goes up, so does the demand and economic activity follows. Given this recent jump in its value, a lot of companies will want to do business with those that have access to the resource, especially Canadian companies. In the face of a possible recession, we could all use some good news.

Shares of Northstar Gold are priced at $0.040 with a market capitalization of C$3 million. Although Northstar Gold is priced low, the company continues to make headway with its deliverables, showcasing its longevity and upside across all its properties. In the past month, NSG shares have risen 12.5 per cent.

Mining investors may find it difficult to choose their “favourite” metals market at present, with so many experiencing bull-market conditions. With Northstar Gold, investors get exposure to several of these markets in a single package.

This is sponsored content issued on behalf of Northstar Gold Corp., please see full disclaimer here.

Join the discussion: Find out what everybody’s saying about this stock on the Northstar Gold Corp. Bullboard investor discussion forum, and check out the rest of Stockhouse’s stock forums and message boards.

The post Successful explorer begins drilling at historic high-grade copper mine appeared first on The Market Herald Canada.

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Russia’s Oil Exports Climb Despite Its Commitment To Cut Supply

Russia’s Oil Exports Climb Despite Its Commitment To Cut Supply

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

Russia’s crude oil exports by sea…

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Russia's Oil Exports Climb Despite Its Commitment To Cut Supply

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

Russia’s crude oil exports by sea have been exceeding the country’s targeted export reductions as part of the OPEC+ pact for weeks, with the most recent week’s observed shipments as high as 360,000 barrels per day (bpd) above target, tanker-tracking data monitored by Bloomberg showed on Tuesday. Despite edging lower, four-week average volumes exceeded it by almost 200,000 barrels a day in the most recent period.

In the week to October 29, Russia shipped around 3.64 million bpd of crude oil from its oil export terminals, up by 110,000 compared to the week prior, according to the data reported by Bloomberg’s Julian Lee. 

Higher shipments out of the port of Novorossiysk in the Black Sea contributed to most of the gains in crude flows from Russia in the last week of October and were only partially offset by a lower number of crude oil tankers that left Russia’s ports in the Baltic Sea and on the Pacific.

The four-week average crude oil shipments out of Russia were slightly lower at 3.48 million bpd in the week to October 29, a drop of around 20,000 bpd compared to the four-week average in the four weeks to October 22.

Even this slightly lower 3.48 million bpd export volume for the average of the four weeks to October 29 was nearly 200,000 bpd higher than the exports Russia would have to ideally stick to in order to fulfill its pledge to cut exports by 300,000 bpd, Bloomberg notes.

Russia has never been quite clear about what exports it is cutting and how it calculates those volumes.

Russia’s commitment to reduce its oil exports by 300,000 bpd includes oil products, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said earlier this month in remarks that sowed further confusion about how much oil supply Russia is really withholding from the market.

Russia has pledged to reduce its oil exports by 300,000 bpd until the end of 2023, in a show of solidarity with its OPEC+ partner Saudi Arabia, which is voluntarily reducing its oil production by 1 million bpd until 2023.

Tyler Durden Wed, 11/01/2023 - 05:00

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Big Brother Unchained: UK Govt To Abolish Biometrics & Surveillance Safeguards As It Embraces Facial Recognition

Big Brother Unchained: UK Govt To Abolish Biometrics & Surveillance Safeguards As It Embraces Facial Recognition

Authored by Nick Corbishley…

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Big Brother Unchained: UK Govt To Abolish Biometrics & Surveillance Safeguards As It Embraces Facial Recognition

Authored by Nick Corbishley via NakedCapitalism.com,

“The lack of attention being paid to [public safeguards] at such a crucial time is shocking, and destruction of the surveillance camera code that we’ve all been using successfully for over a decade is tantamount to vandalism.”

The United Kingdom is at the leading edge of many of the digital authoritarian trends sweeping ostensibly democratic nations. In one of the many dark ironies of our age, it is the government of George Orwell’s native Britain that is seeking to massively escalate its deployment of live facial recognition (LFR) technologies, despite the concerns raised about its potential impact. In late September, 180 rights groups and tech experts called on governments around the world to halt their use of facial recognition surveillance.

On the other side of the English channel, the EU Parliament has voted for a blanket ban on the use of LFR in public spaces, as too have some US cities. By contrast, the UK government is escalating its deployment of the controversial surveillance technology.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the son-in-law of Indian tech billionaire N R Narayana Murthy, is determined to transform the UK into a world leader in AI governance. Said governance apparently involves gutting many of the limited safeguards protecting the public from the potential downsides and dangers of AI, of which there are many. This, of course, is no accident; if there was any time the British public needed those safeguards, it would be right now, as the government unleashes facial recognition technologies across the urban landscape.

As we reported in early August, live facial recognition (LFR) surveillance, where people’s faces are biometrically scanned by cameras in real-time and checked against a database, is being used by an increasing number of UK retailers amid a sharp upsurge in shoplifting — with the blessing, of course, of the UK government. Police forces are also being urged to step up their use of LFR. The technology has also been deployed at the Coronation of King Charles III, sports events including Formula 1, and concerts, despite ongoing concerns about its accuracy as well as the huge ethical and privacy issues it raises.

According to the UK government, this is all about fighting crime:

But research by Big Brother Watch, a London-based civil rights and privacy organisation, found that more than 89% of UK police facial recognition alerts to date have wrongly identified members of the public as people of interest. The (likely) real object of the government’s interest is not shoplifters, but rather political activists, as a recent article in the Guardian hinted:

[D]ocuments obtained through a freedom of information request revealed that two-thirds of people on a secret watchlist drawn up by Northamptonshire police were not wanted for arrest or suspected of “criminal activity”, prompting campaigners to believe that the majority are likely to have been protesters.

Of 790 names on the watchlist, just 234 people were “wanted for arrest, either on a warrant and/or suspicion of criminal activity”, with 556 others not wanted for arrest.

Critics say using biometric surveillance could impinge on a person’s “freedom of expression” and deter people from protesting. Madeleine Stone, senior advocacy officer at Big Brother Watch, said: “Live facial recognition is a dystopian mass surveillance tool that turns streets into police lineups..”

But the government is not stopping there. Its new Data Protection and Digital Information Act, expected to become law in the Spring of 2024, seeks to abolish the roles of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commission (BSCC), an independent advisory board that was, to some extent, helping to hold the public sector to account for its use of AI. The BSCC’s oversight functions include:

  • Reviewing police handling of DNA samples, DNA profiles and fingerprints.

  • Maintaining an up-to-date surveillance camera code of practice with standards and guidance for practitioners.

  • Setting out technical and governance matters for most public body surveillance systems.

  • Providing guidance on technical and procurement matters to ensure that future surveillance systems are of the right standard and purchased from reliable suppliers.

In its bid to eliminate the BSCC, the government clearly wants to have even freer reign to surveil and control the lives of British. The outgoing Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner, Professor Fraser Sampson, who leaves his post today (Oct. 31) with no replacement lined up, described the government’s latest move as “shocking” and “tantamount to vandalism”:

After receiving this report, I am more concerned than ever that, unless the government acts soon, there will be a worrying vacuum in our arrangements for overseeing and regulating these crucial areas of public life just when society needs those safeguards more than ever.

The lack of attention being paid to these important matters at such a crucial time is shocking, and destruction of the surveillance camera code that we’ve all been using successfully for over a decade is tantamount to vandalism…

There is no question that AI-driven biometric surveillance can be intrusive, and that the line between what is private and public surveillance is becoming increasingly blurred. The technology is among us already and the speed of change is dizzying with powerful capabilities evolving and combining in novel and challenging ways…

As proposed, the bill would remove the role of the independent commissioner providing oversight over biometrics databases, replacing it with a “Forensic Information Database Strategy Board.” The legislation does not make clear whether this board will be independent from government. It also allows the Secretary of State to change the databases which the board is required to oversee using statutory instruments, a form of secondary legislation that bypasses parliamentary votes.

This follows an announcement last month by the Minister of Policing Chris Filip of plans to create a vast facial recognition database out of passport photos of people in the UK. It is as brazen and as egregious an example of mission creep as you’re likely to find. At present, photos on the police national database are limited to individuals who have been arrested. The police can also check images from doorbell and dashcam technologies, as well as home and business security cameras. But it could soon have its hands on the photos of 45.7 million passport holders.

“Philp’s plan to subvert Brits’ passport photos into a giant police database is Orwellian and a gross violation of British privacy principles," said Silkie Carlo, director of the civil liberties and privacy campaigning organisation Big Brother Watch:

It means that over 45 million of us with passports who gave our images for travel purposes will, without any kind of consent or the ability to object, be part of secret police lineups. To scan the population’s photos with highly inaccurate facial recognition technology and treat us like suspects is an outrageous assault on our privacy that totally overlooks the real reasons for shoplifting. Philp should concentrate on fixing broken policing rather than building an automated surveillance state.

Sampson reserved particular scorn for the government’s decision to eliminate the UK’s surveillance camera code, which, like other safeguards such as the BSCC, was created just over a decade ago by David Cameron’s coalition government:

The planned loss of the surveillance camera code is a good example of what will be lost if nothing is done.  It is the only legal instrument we have in this country that specifically governs public space surveillance. It is widely respected by the police, local authorities and the surveillance industry in general. It’s in one of those things that would have to be invented it didn’t already exist, so it seems absolutely senseless to destroy it now, junking the years of hard work it took to get it established.

report by the Centre for Research into Information Surveillance and Privacy (CRISP), a collaborative initiative between the University of Stirling’s Management School, the University of St Andrews School of Management, and the University of Edinburgh’s School of Social and Political Sciences and School of Law, reached a similar conclusion, arguing that the code is widely valued among security and surveillance practitioners. Of the industry experts consulted, Alex Carmichael, from the Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board, said:

Without the Surveillance Camera Commissioner you will go back to the old days when it was like the ‘wild west’, which means you can do anything with surveillance cameras so long as you don’t annoy the Information Commissioner…so, there will not be anyone looking at new emerging technologies, looking at their technical requirements or impacts, no one thinking about ethical implications for emerging technologies like face-recognition, it will be a free-for-all.

It would be bad enough if this were happening in isolation, but it isn’t. The UK government has also passed the Online Safety Bill, prompting many messaging apps to threaten to leave the UK due to the potential threat it poses to end-to-end encryption. It has granted police new powers to shut down protests as well as force employees to work during industrial action – or face being sacked. Police forces are also resorting to Section 60AA to require protesters to remove any item being worn for the purpose of concealing their identity. In other words, smile for the cameras!

Together with the Bank of England, the government is pushing hard for the creation of a “digital pound” to replace cash, once again ignoring the public’s deep-seated concerns about the ethical and privacy implications, not to mention their enduring affection for cash. It is also also seriously considering handing over full management of the National Health Service’s federated data platform to Palantir, a US tech giant with intimate ties to defense, intelligence and security industries around the world and whose founder Peter Thiel recently described the UK public’s affection for the NHS as Stockholm Syndrome.

Sadly, most of these trends — particularly the tech-enabled drift toward authoritarianism and centralised technocracy — are generalised among the ostensibly democratic nations of the so-called “Free West.” And as I noted at the beginning of this post, the UK is at the leading edge of almost all of them.

Tyler Durden Wed, 11/01/2023 - 03:30

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