A report from "CryptoHippie" (don't know anything about this person/group) has created an index to surveillance states, ranked from worst to best. What's especially notable about this report is its concise, intelligent definition of "Electronic Police States:"



The two crucial facts about the information gathered under an electronic

police state are these:

1. It is criminal evidence, ready for use in a trial.

2. It is gathered universally and silently, and only later organized for

use in prosecutions.

In an Electronic Police State, every surveillance camera recording, every

email you send, every Internet site you surf, every post you make, every

check you write, every credit card swipe, every cell phone ping… are all

criminal evidence, and they are held in searchable databases, for a long,

long time. Whoever holds this evidence can make you look very, very bad

whenever they care enough to do so. You can be prosecuted whenever

they feel like it – the evidence is already in their database.

Perhaps you trust that your ruler will only use his evidence archives to

hurt bad people. Will you also trust his successor? Do you also trust all of

his subordinates, every government worker and every policeman?