He's using it as a tool to think about the implications of space colonies - with the major point being that he believes that space colonies must implement some level of high fidelity individual tracking and monitoring for security purposes / that people would likely accept that loss of privacy for various reasons.
To a certain extent. Did you see patio11's recent article talking about how his bank manager knew when he was dating and considered this part of his job, his landlord kicked him out when he quit his job, your company will arrange housing and marriage interviews for you?
What is it?