From “Vaccine Passports” to Digital Identity
TECHNOLOGY, 1 May 2023
Swiss Policy Research - TRANSCEND Media Service
How to Follow the Digital Identity Debate
Vaccine passports in Bordeaux, France (August 2021)
April 2023 – Already in March 2020, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, a major sponsor of the WHO, CEPI and the ID2020 Alliance, announced both a global covid mass vaccination campaign for “seven billion people” and the introduction of “digital vaccination certificates” as “the only way to end the pandemic”.
If the SARS-2 virus had been a systemic respiratory virus like SARS-1, this strategy might have worked. But SARS-2 is a non-systemic respiratory virus that easily jumps from throat to throat. Because of this, vaccines couldn’t stop transmission and vaccination certificates had to fail.
Nevertheless, governments around the world invested billions to set up a global digital vaccine passport infrastructure in record time. It is possible that they intended to keep this infrastructure in place and to later convert it seamlessly into a digital biometric ID and payment infrastructure.
This didn’t work out, but it is important to remember that in 2021 and early 2022, millions of “unvaccinated” people really were excluded from travel, work, education, and leisure activities. It was likely the darkest time in the Western world since the end of the Second World War.
While millions of people protested against this insanity, the strongest political resistance came neither from “no-lockdown” Sweden, nor from “multipolar” Russia, nor from “direct democratic” Switzerland – all of which implemented “vaccine passports” –, but from some US states like Florida.
Then again, the United States still requires “proof of vaccination” from international travelers.
Indeed, despite the obvious failure of “vaccine passports”, the technological and legal framework has remained in place and several governments have announced their intention to build upon this supposed “success story” in various ongoing and upcoming digital identity projects.
“This is the impressive side of this pandemic”, one EU Commission official recently stated.
While digital identity and payment systems are unlikely to offer important advantages to citizens, they will greatly enhance population surveillance and population control, and may later be turned into a Chinese-style “social credit system” or switched to RFID-based microchip technology.
For an ongoing, independent analysis of these topics, see e.g. the following websites:
- Health Policy Watch: WHO initiatives
- The Sociable: Digital ID and payment systems
- Naked Capitalism: Digital ID and payment systems
- Biometric Update: A biometric industry news portal
- German: Dr. Norbert Haering: Digital ID and payment systems
Digital Identity: The 2018 vision of the World Economic Forum
See also:
__________________________________________
Swiss Policy Research, founded in 2016, is an independent, nonpartisan and nonprofit research group investigating geopolitical propaganda in Swiss and international media. SPR is composed of independent academics that for personal and professional reasons prefer to protect their identities, and receives no external funding; there are no financial sponsors or backers. Our articles have been published or shared by numerous independent media outlets and journalists, among them Julian Assange, and have been translated into more than two dozen languages.
Tags: Big tech, COVID-19, Cashless society, Digital Identity, Pandemic, Plastic Money, Privacy rights, Spying, Surveillance, Vaccine Passports
DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.