On a $55bn budget, the city of Songdo is currently the most technologically advanced on the planet. It is, what some people call, a Smart City where technology is predominant in every aspect of a resident’s (and tourist’s) life.

There are well over 1200 surveillance cameras in a city of 200,000 residents spread over 20 square miles of reclaimed land. The ratio between these cameras to resident is the highest in the western world!

Not only that but being a smart city means that every home and business has superfast broadband and the most advanced comprehensive range of Internet of Things, including fridges, cookers, smart meters, waste disposal chutes, televisions, environmental air quality sensors, video conferencing, card readers, online e-commerce and a host of things that residents have come to accept.

There is a master control centre in the heart of the city that monitors, collects and collates all this information. It most definitely knows who you are, where you are, where you have been, where you might be tomorrow, what you have eaten, what you have bought and who you have met with.

It also knows everything about your health, your education, who you voted for, your criminal record, your family, your friends, your finances,  your interests and even what you threw away in the rubbish chute and estimated carbon footprint.

In essence Songdo is Big Brother in the here and now. Most residents don’t seem to mind the intrusive invasion if it means feeling more secure and safe from criminal activities. City officials believe that intensive surveillance is a good thing and should be encouraged by other cities and countries.

The fact that most homes have inbuilt CCTV cameras controlled by the very same master control centre, operated by the city, is most concerning at all because you can’t rent/buy a home in the city unless you accept having these Big Brother “eyes” watching, listening and even smelling your domestic activities 24/7

If someone said Songdo was situated in Russia, China or North Korea, I could accept this overbearing surveillance. But we’re talking of South Korea – a so-called democracy with Western ideologies.

And even more worryingly, it is known that many cities in the West, especially in France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden and Germany (and perhaps even the UK) are keen to adapt some of those “monitoring” technologies, for the greater good of society and the planet!

Scary Times

Bloomberg News Link

Nominated by: Technocunt