Saturday, June 28, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Hong Kong goes for mass surveillance

Published 22 February 2024
– By Editorial Staff
Hong Kong Police Commissioner Raymond Siu assures that the cameras will not compromise the privacy of citizens.
3 minute read

2,000 new security cameras to be installed in Hong Kong by the end of 2024 may be equipped with facial recognition capabilities, according to the city’s police chief.

Authorities in the region have so far refused to answer questions about the surveillance equipment, how many cameras there are, where they are located, or whether they have automatic tracking or facial recognition capabilities.

In Hong Kong, 615 new CCTV cameras will be installed as early as March as part of police efforts to expand the surveillance apparatus to detect and prevent crime, the pro-government Hong Kong Free Press reported.

Once the first batch of cameras is installed and fine-tuned, the rest of the 2,000 units will be installed, Police Commissioner Raymond Siu announced.

According to him, 2,000 CCTV cameras are “really relatively not enough” – pointing out that there are 90,000 in Singapore and over seven million in the UK.

– We believe that there will be more than 2,000 [CCTV cameras] in the future.

Dismissing privacy concerns

However, it is not clear how many surveillance cameras are already installed in public places in the region. The police and government agencies such as the Department of Recreation and Culture and the Department of Food and Environmental Hygiene have already installed a large number of them.

When asked if the surveillance cameras will have facial recognition capabilities, Siu said he did not rule out such a possibility. He also claims that the police have not yet “decided” how long the recorded footage will be kept, and that they will compare with other countries and regions and then make a decision.

The police chief also dismisses concerns about invasion of privacy and other concerns about the risk of violating citizens’ privacy, pointing out that only public areas will be monitored and that the cameras will be handled in accordance with current legislation.

“Hoping for zero crime”

It should be noted that last year the crime rate in the region fell to what is classified as a “particularly low level” – but it is still considered necessary to install thousands of surveillance cameras. This year, however, fraud and some violent crimes are on the rise.

– I think any law-abiding citizen would hope to see zero crime. They would not think that the police can relax because the [crime rate] has dropped.

No transparency

In 2020, when then lawmaker Charles Mok asked for details of the existing CCTV cameras in Hong Kong, how many there were and where they were located, he was told that no such statistics were kept.

Nor was he told whether they had automatic tracking or facial-recognition capabilities as disclosing information about the camera systems was considered a sensitive “security issue” that could undermine the work of law enforcement agencies.

He was also not told whether the police had tried to identify individuals by requesting access to personal data in databases managed by other authorities and by comparing facial features recorded by the surveillance cameras.

“As for the other information requested in the question, it is not appropriate for disclosure lest it compromises the Police’s technologies and capabilities in the prevention and detection of crime”, it said.

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Kennedy halts US support for global vaccine alliance

The criticized covid vaccinations

Published today 12:37
– By Editorial Staff
According to Kennedy, Gavi has exhausted the public’s – and the US government’s – trust.
2 minute read

US Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced during a meeting in Brussels this week that the country is withdrawing its financial support for the global vaccine alliance Gavi.

The announcement comes as Gavi has launched a new funding round with the goal of raising at least $9 billion for the next five years.

Kennedy, who has long been highly skeptical of large-scale mass vaccination programs and experimental vaccines, sharply criticized Gavi and its collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) during the coronavirus crisis in a brief video address. He accused the alliance of systematically silencing “dissenting views” and ignoring health risks and safety issues related to the vaccines.

“In its zeal to promote universal vaccination, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance has neglected the key issue of vaccine safety”, Kennedy later wrote in a post on X, and continued:

“When vaccine safety issues have come before GAVI, it has treated them not as a patient health problem, but as a public relations problem”.

Kennedy also questioned the safety of the combined vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, claiming that research shows girls who received the vaccine are at higher risk of dying from other causes than unvaccinated children. He also expressed skepticism about WHO’s and Gavi’s recommendation to vaccinate pregnant women against COVID-19 – a recommendation he called “questionable”.

“I call on GAVI to re-earn the public trust and to justify the $8 billion dollars that America has provided in funding since 2001. Until that happens the United States won’t contribute more to GAVI. Business as usual is over”, he declared.

US promised one billion

According to Kennedy, Gavi must start “consider the best science available, even when that science contradicts established paradigms”.

In a statement on Thursday, Gavi claimed that the organization’s highest priority is children’s health and safety. They also stated that all decisions about which vaccines to procure are made according to recommendations from WHO’s expert group on vaccines.

Gavi is a global partnership between WHO, UNICEF, the Gates Foundation, the World Bank, and several governments, working to promote affordable mass vaccination programs in poor countries. The United States has long been one of the organization’s largest donors – and had, before Donald Trump’s re-election, promised support of $1 billion through 2030.

North Korea inaugurates luxury tourist resort

Published yesterday 13:49
– By Editorial Staff
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the inauguration "one of the greatest successes this year" and described the facility as "the proud first step" towards developing North Korea's tourism sector.
2 minute read

North Korea has inaugurated a new luxury tourist resort on the country’s east coast, a development described as the beginning of a new era for the country’s tourism. Despite the opening, it remains unclear when foreign visitors might be allowed.

North Korea has officially opened the large-scale Wonsan-Kalma tourist resort on the country’s east coast. The project is described as a nationally treasured tourist area and a symbol of a new era in the country’s tourism, reports TravelNews, via North Korean state media.

The new resort, inaugurated by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 24, features hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, and a water park along a four-kilometer coastline and has the capacity to accommodate nearly 20,000 visitors.

Kim Jong-un called the inauguration one of the greatest successes this year”, and described the facility as the proud first step towards developing North Korea’s tourism sector.

The resort opens for domestic tourists from July 1, but there is still no indication of when or if foreign visitors will be allowed.

Started in 2018

The project, which began in 2018 but was delayed by the pandemic and supply chain issues, is part of Kim Jong-un’s initiative to boost the country’s economy through tourism, despite extensive international sanctions.

The Wonsan-Kalma resort is located near an international airport and a newly built train station, suggesting ambitions to attract foreign tourists in the future, primarily from Russia and China.

The Russian ambassador attended the inauguration ceremony, reflecting Pyongyang’s increasingly close ties with Moscow at a time when the country remains isolated from the Western world.

Analysts suggest that the tourist resort is unlikely to be economically viable with domestic visitors alone, making the question of international access crucial.

Despite the opening, significant uncertainties remain regarding North Korea’s future tourism. The country has not yet lifted its restrictions on broader international tourism, and many regions remain inaccessible to foreign visitors.

Meanwhile, the investment in Wonsan-Kalma is seen as an attempt to generate much-needed foreign revenue and signal a certain opening towards the outside world.

Israeli settlers: “All Palestinian children are Hamas”

The situation in Gaza

Published yesterday 7:13
– By Editorial Staff
When asked about his views on large parts of Gaza lying in ruins today, a settler responds that he "wants to finish the job".
2 minute read

During Israel’s ongoing invasion of Gaza, Israeli settlers gathered in a festive-like atmosphere at the border of the bombarded area.

When Norway-based Afghan journalist Yama Wolasmal interviewed them, several expressed their support for a total expulsion of the Palestinian population – and claimed that even children should be considered terrorists and members of Hamas.

– I can see how children are terrorists as well, explains one of the settlers when asked if he considers children innocent in the war.

– I can’t have as next door neighbors Nazis, says another.

– All the children are Hamas and they will be very happy to see all of us burned all over the world and they will destroy the whole world, and the christian world together with that.

Many of the Jewish settlers belong to an ideological movement that, for religious and nationalist reasons, completely rejects the idea of a Palestinian state. Instead, they advocate for full Israeli control over the entire area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea – often through violent expulsion of Palestinians.

“A creative solution”

The movement has increased its influence under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rule, particularly through his alliance with far-right and deeply religious parties that openly support the settlers’ agenda. In practice, many settlers operate outside the law, and there are recurring reports of violence, harassment, and even murder of Palestinian civilians. Despite extensive international criticism, these abuses rarely lead to legal consequences.

Yama Wolasmal visited settlers near the Gaza border, where several of them described their vision for the future: a Gaza completely without Palestinians. One of the interviewees believes that the Palestinian people as a whole bear responsibility for Hamas’s attacks on October 7, 2023:

– They are accomplices of the crime, they are supportive of it and they were part of it and we just have to say again it is not going to happen again.

He confirms that the Jewish settler movement wants to take over all of Gaza, but could not answer what should happen to the more than two million Palestinians currently living there:

– Lets find some creative solution. We don’t want them to die, and that’s different from what they want. We want them to be displaced, 100%, so lets work together.

“We want to finish the job”

When the journalist notes that large parts of Gaza are already in ruins, he responds:

– We want to finish the job.

Despite several settlers openly advocating for ethnic cleansing, they claim they are not extreme, and testimonies about attacks on Palestinian families, burned houses, and cars are dismissed as false.

Instead, they describe war and ethnic cleansing as potentially necessary – a path to lasting peace – and point to Germany during World War II as a historical example.

RFK Jr wants health trackers on every American within four years

Mass surveillance

Published 26 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
"We think that wearables are a key to the MAHA agenda", Kennedy claims.
3 minute read

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has presented a plan for all Americans to wear body-monitoring technology that tracks their health in real time.

The measure is described as a crucial part of the national initiative MAHA – Make America Healthy Again – which aims to reverse America’s widespread public health crisis using modern technology.

During a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday, Kennedy revealed that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will launch one of its most extensive campaigns ever – to get Americans to wear so-called wearables, body-worn technology that collects health data around the clock.

– We’re about to launch the biggest advertising campaign in HHS history to encourage Americans to use wearables, Kennedy said.

Products mentioned in the initiative include FitBit, Oura Ring, and Apple Watch – popular devices that can measure heart rate, movement, sleep, and in some cases even blood glucose.

– It’s a way people can take control over their own health. They can take responsibility. They can see, as you know, what food is doing to their glucose levels, their heart rates, and a number of other metrics, as they eat it, he explained in a statement also published on the X platform.

“Key to the MAHA agenda”

Kennedy emphasized that he sees the technology as a crucial part of his vision:

– We think that wearables are a key to the MAHA agenda of making America healthy again and my vision is that every American is wearing a wearable in four years.

The Secretary, who belongs to the influential Kennedy family, often emphasizes individual responsibility for health but also links the issue to national security. During his Senate hearing, he described America’s obesity epidemic which now affects about 40 percent of the population as a threat to military readiness.

“Reduce global metabolic suffering”

One of the leading advocates for this type of technology is also President Trump’s nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. Casey Means. She is co-founder of Levels, a company that develops and sells Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGM) sensors attached directly to the skin that send blood glucose values to an app in real time.

Means claims in a blog post that “these small plastic discs” can “reduce global metabolic suffering” and provide much-needed help to the “93.2 percent of people” suffering from metabolic issues.

The food industry is also affected by MAHA. Kennedy recently revealed that Starbucks will make changes to its menu in line with the agenda – even though the company already avoids several common additives such as artificial colors, flavors, and high-fructose corn syrup.

Earlier this year, Kennedy implemented a ban on artificial colors in U.S. food production one of his first major interventions as Secretary. Critics have questioned both methods and priorities in the MAHA policy, but Kennedy sees it as a first step toward a healthier and more responsible nation.

Concerns about mass surveillance

The use of wearable health technology has raised questions about users’ right to privacy. Most health trackers collect large amounts of sensitive information including heart rate, sleep patterns, movement, and blood glucose levels stored in apps connected to companies.

Critics argue that there is a lack of clear transparency in how this data is used, shared, or sold, and that state-encouraged collection of health data risks blurring the line between voluntary health monitoring and systematic surveillance.

While Kennedy emphasizes voluntariness, some analysts warn that large-scale campaigns and technology adaptations by major companies may create indirect pressure to participate.

As more institutions such as employers, schools, or businesses adapt to health tracking, there is a risk that those who opt out may be seen as deviant, receive worse conditions, or be excluded from parts of society.

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