They are transforming the Internet into the greatest tool of surveillance that humanity has ever seen, and if we stay on the road that we are currently on it is only a matter of time until our society becomes a hellish dystopian nightmare.\u00a0 I wish that this was an exaggeration, but it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 Over the past couple of decades, the Internet has completely changed the way that we all communicate with one another.\u00a0 At one time, all forms of mass communication were tightly controlled by the elite, but the Internet suddenly allowed us to communicate with one another on a massive scale without having to go through their gatekeepers.\u00a0 This radically altered the landscape, and at first the elite were unsure of how to respond to this growing threat.\u00a0 There was no way that they could roll back time to an era before the Internet was invented, and so they have decided to use it for their own insidious purposes instead.<\/span><\/p>\n Today, the Internet has become the centerpiece of their \u201cBig Brother surveillance grid\u201d, and they are gathering information on all of us on a scale that has never been seen before in all of human history.\u00a0 But of course it was never going to stop there.\u00a0 Over the past couple of years we have started to watch the elite use all of this information to punish those that are doing or saying things that they do not like.<\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps the most extreme example of this phenomenon is what is going on in China.\u00a0 The following comes from BuzzFeed<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Chinese journalist Liu Hu always knew<\/a><\/strong><\/span> he\u2019d have trouble with the authorities; he had been exposing corruption and wrongdoing for years. He was used to being hassled with regular fines and forced apologies imposed by his authoritarian government. He nevertheless persisted in truth-telling.<\/span><\/p>\n One day in 2017, Hu logged onto a travel site, but couldn\u2019t book a flight because the site said he was \u201cnot qualified.\u201d Soon he discovered he was blocked from buying property, using the high-speed train network, or getting a loan. And there was nothing he could do about it.<\/strong> His rights to essential goods and services were now circumscribed through an algorithm designed to discriminate against the 7.5 million people on China\u2019s \u201cDishonest Persons Subject to Enforcement\u201d list.<\/span><\/p>\n In China they call it a \u201csocial credit score\u201d, but in reality it is nightmarish authoritarianism at its worst.<\/span><\/p>\n They are monitoring all that their citizens do and think \u2013 their political opinions, their shopping patterns, their travel history, their Internet behavior, etc. \u2013 and if they upset \u201cthe Beast system\u201d then they could ultimately lose access to everything.<\/span><\/p>\n Put yourself in their shoes for a moment.<\/span><\/p>\n Just imagine a world in which you will no longer be able to buy, sell, open a bank account, get a loan, use public transportation or get a job.<\/span><\/p>\n Chinese authorities are even putting up surveillance cameras in the schools so that they can constantly monitor students<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Here, the surveillance cameras took the data on individual facial expressions and used that information to create a running \u201cscore\u201d on each student and class. If a score reached a predetermined point, the system triggered an alert. Teachers were expected to take action: to talk to a student perceived to be disengaged, for example, or overly moody.<\/span><\/p>\n You would think that the Chinese would rebel against such a system, but most are already too fearful to say anything about it.<\/span><\/p>\n And some are actually embracing the new system<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n In Beijing and throughout China, closed-circuit cameras and other surveillance devices are so ubiquitous that they\u2019ve become part of the landscape. If facial recognition helps with public safety, some say, that\u2019s a good thing.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps people would behave themselves more,\u201d said Xia Chuzi, a 19-year-old student interviewed in Beijing.<\/span><\/p>\n But we would never allow such a thing to happen here in the United States, right?<\/span><\/p>\n Wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n While not yet as advanced as what the Chinese have done, our own version of \u201cthe Beast system\u201d is expanding with each passing day.<\/span><\/p>\n If you use the Internet, the technocratic elite know virtually everything about you.\u00a0 And as we have seen so frequently in recent months, they also have the power to \u201cdeplatform\u201d those that they do not like<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Independent Media readers are well aware of the multitude of ways big tech and social media platforms have been censoring conservatives, from demonetizing video channels, to blocking, banning and shadow banning conservatives, to limiting the reach of promotions and by \u201ctweaking\u201d algorithms so that search results push Independent Media sites so far down that they can rarely be found.<\/span><\/p>\n And restricting buying and selling is starting to happen too.\u00a0 In fact, we have seen numerous online payment platforms ban individuals and organizations that hold \u201cextreme views\u201d recently.<\/span><\/p>\n Over time, the information that the elite have about all of us will continue to grow, as will their desire to punish those that think or act \u201coffensively\u201d.\u00a0 But in the process of creating a \u201cutopia\u201d, they will actually be creating an authoritarian nightmare.\u00a0 The following comes from Ethan Huff<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Social media is arguably the greatest accomplishment thus far of the \u201cdeep state\u201d in establishing a new world order. For one, it allows the various ministries of propaganda around the world to project their official narratives without impediment using authoritarian censorship tactics. It also creates a virtual echo chamber of leftism that, once all the conservatives are finally removed from all the tech platforms, will create the online liberal \u201cutopia\u201d that the social engineers are striving to achieve.<\/span><\/p>\n We live at a time when political correctness has become institutionalized.<\/span><\/p>\n One wrong opinion, and you can lose a social media account that you spent years building up.\u00a0 And one wrong statement can cost you a career that you spent years training for.<\/span><\/p>\n Ultimately, we are heading down the exact same path that China has gone.\u00a0 Their \u201csocial credit score\u201d system is being hailed as the next great thing all over the world, and those that hate freedom of speech can\u2019t wait to fully implement such a system in the western world.<\/span><\/p>\n About the author: Michael Snyder<\/a> is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News<\/a><\/span> and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End<\/a><\/span> and Living A Life That Really Matters<\/a><\/span>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n