Des Houghton: Spy cameras a step too far in COVID-19 fight

The spy technology rolled out under the guise of fighting COVID-19 is overreach from an increasingly intrusive State Government, writes Des Houghton. VOTE IN OUR POLL

I WAS surprised there was no outcry from civil libertarians at the decision of the Queensland Government to invade our privacy by sticking spy cameras on poles to check whether or not we are using our phones while driving.

It is Big Brother overreach from an incompetent and impecunious government desperate to find new taxes.

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Frankly, I do not see much wrong with glancing at your phone for messages while you are stopped at a red light, or stalled in a traffic jam. Police do it all the time.

That said, I am not suggesting you use your phone while driving.

I am not motivated by self-interest.

I have a voice-activated call system in my car and don’t need to touch my phone at all.

The problem with the State Government spy cameras is that they will use artificial intelligence to determine your guilt or innocence.

It is disturbing because AI does not always get it right.

Innocent people will be punished on the say-so of a machine. And they will find it difficult to challenge the decisions.

The over-reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic also allowed the grandstanding Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll to give the green light to automated number plate recognition technology to track drivers venturing more than 50km from their own homes.

To avoid detection, we had to place ourselves under house arrest.

Number plate recognition cameras may have a positive role in detecting stolen cars, but it’s the kind of mass surveillance that will inevitably be misused.

Regardless of what you think of Annastacia Palaszczuk personally, she has, unfortunately, become the puppet in a socialist state far too eager to erode the presumption of innocence and tell us how to live our lives.

Stay home. Go there. Wear this. Wait here.

Palaszczuk has hastened the erosion of our liberties. And I wonder whether a government led by Deb Frecklington will be any different.

While Palaszczuk is rushing to put up spy cameras, her Government is moving to make you a criminal for using the same technology.

It will become unlawful in most cases to install surveillance cameras around your own property for your protection.

A draft Bill before Parliament recommends new criminal offences and penalties of three years jail and $8000 fines for people the state deems to have improperly installed or maintained surveillance devices.

GPS tracking and drone surveillance will also be regulated.

Businesses, too, will be hampered from filming unwanted intruders. Why?

In Parliament, the Greens have complained about the use of cameras by coalmining companies heading to block their production.

If re-elected, Palaszczuk will even have set up a Surveillance Devices Commission.

It will be no doubt become a sinecure for highly paid busybodies.

Originally published as Des Houghton: Spy cameras a step too far in COVID-19 fight