[eterm]

All this stuff is tracked all the time anyway through cell towers, it's way past where the regularization point is for "state intrusion" in the UK.

That might seem weird to an outsider but that's just a culture difference. We're just as weirded out that anyone can own even a handgun in the US, let alone walk down the street with one.

I'm personally far more weirded out by the idea that a private company can track and use this data than the fact the state can.

[johansch]

My two major turnoffs for living in the London area (which otherwise, based on my multiple visits so far, seems lovely) are:

a) the pervasive surveillance (i don't think it's by chance that "black mirror" is written by someone - charlie brooker- living there)

b) the stupidly high housing costs

(in that order, actually)

[eterm]

While London does have a lot more surveillance than the rest of the UK, anywhere in the UK has a lot more surveillance than most other comparable countries.

It was 13 years ago that the UK's then information commissioner warned we were sleep-walking into a surveillance state: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/aug/16/britishidentity.f...

The worries seem positively quaint now in comparison to the data that Facebook, Google and the state now collect.