Given how the BJP govt. in India is pushing the mass surveillance programs starting from Aadhar to Aarogya Setu, it occurred to me that for such mass surveillance systems to work, i.e to gain mass among the masses, the masses first need to have the means to get into the surveillance programs.

Now think about what BJP govt. has achieved with the help of Capitalists to lay infrastructure for those programs.

1. Some BJP allied company wanted to capture this opportunity to produce and sell low cost smartphone called "Freedom 251" and they terribly failed and it has become a flagship scam under this govt.
2. Govt. favoured Reliance JIO over any other telecom operator because Reliance had the capital and potential to lay foundations for nationwide infrastructure.
2. JIO offered free Internet for a while to attract huge user base towards them. Once a particular threshold was met, they had successfully acquired monopoly over the market.
3. To acquire new SIM and JIO Lyf phones people had to use their Aadhar Number.
4. Demonetization forced people to get the taste of digital payments systems like UPI, Google Pay, PayTM, etc., so they would get used to it.
5. Too much of capital was redirected to Fintech companies to build systems that efficiently tracks the people
6. Use pandemic emergencies like COVID-19 as an opportunity to push another nationwide surveillance application called Aarogya Setu.

They are laying infrastructure for mass surveillance and they are getting there faster. They need feedback loops to keep the masses doped, all the data that they receive from all the above services is a powerful tool in the hands of this govt. to maintain the status quo.

We shall not go silent when #SurveillanceCapitalism grows in India.

I was not prepared for that to happen right now :)

(Source: https://i.redd.it/ll7r1w8hk3u41.jpg )

The main problem with the Setu app is of trust. What has this government done in the past six years which will make me trust them that they won't be using personal data for nefarious reasons like manipulation of the electorate or religious profiling or targeting dissent?