The EU’s Growing Surveillance State
The European Union is developing a growing, intrusive surveillance state, which two recent developments demonstrate.
Speed Limiters
In late June, the Daily Mail reported that the European Commission is considering a measure to require “every new vehicle to be fitted with a device that limits engine power for anyone driving too fast.” This device would use GPS to track how fast one is driving and limit his or her speed based on the posted speed limit.
Since July 2024, all new vehicles sold in the EU and Northern Ireland have been required to be equipped with speed limiters, also called “intelligent speed assistance” (ISA). This technology is currently optional, meaning that drivers can override it. However, the European Commission is seeking to make it mandatory — which it originally sought to do.
The Daily Mail reports:
Earlier proposals for ISA also included a function that would automatically restrict the vehicle to the speed limit but lobbying by car manufacturers resulted in the plan being watered down and the technology became optional.
Multiple industry sources, however, told this newspaper that European Commission officials are now quietly talking to major car firms and safety organisations about making it mandatory.
‘This was always just an interim stage,’ one well-placed source said. ‘Let’s tell the driver, let’s warn him, let’s beep [when exceeding the speed limit]. But eventually we will just fix the speed of the car so you can’t go over the speed limit.’
The European Commission is aiming to put this into effect in 2030.
Although this policy would apply only to EU members, it could affect more countries. For example, the Daily Mail notes that “experts say almost all manufacturers would still install the technology in models sold [in the United Kingdom] because it would be too expensive to make exceptions for UK vehicles. And that would make it easier for the UK to [introduce] its own legislation later.”
If mandatory speed-limiting technology is implemented in EU vehicles, there’s no guarantee that it will be accurate. Last month, Thatcham Research, a U.K.-based vehicle-research group, published a study finding that such technology shows the wrong speed limit up to a quarter of the time.
Surveilling Private Communications
The EU is imposing a mass-surveillance state in other ways, too. For example, the European Parliament voted on July 9 to continue a policy allowing mass surveillance of private communications.
The policy, known as “Chat Control 1.0,” had been rejected by the European Parliament in March, but Parliament President Roberta Metsola, working with the European Council, forced another vote. Although a majority of voting MEPs rejected the policy — 314 to 276 — the measure failed to receive an absolute majority, or 360 MEPs, to block it. Accordingly, “Chat Control 1.0” will remain in effect until April 3, 2028.
The EU’s excuse for mass surveillance of private communications is that it will help catch instances of online child sexual abuse. However, MEP Patrick Breyer, a member of the German Pirate Party, a left-leaning party that generally supports internet privacy, objected to this rationale:
Trying to protect children with suspicionless mass surveillance is like frantically mopping the floor while the faucet is still running. Blanket chat control is just as unacceptable as indiscriminately opening everyone’s physical mail. For five years, this failed system has served as a smokescreen to delay real action, all while overwhelming the police with false alarms.
Regional Implementation
This surveillance is especially striking not only because of how pervasive it is, but because it is being implemented regionally — by an international organization — and not at the national level. Originally established in 1952 as an economic union called the European Coal and Steel Community, the EU was intended from the start to eventually become a full-fledged federal state. Furthermore, as a regional union, the EU serves as a steppingstone toward a one-world government — and it serves as a model for a potential North American Union. The EU’s surveillance-state policies demonstrate how much power this globalist body has already accumulated.
United States Increasing Surveillance
Similar forms of surveillance already exist or are being implemented in the United States. For example, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is currently in limbo, effectively allows warrantless surveillance of American citizens.
Additionally, communities across the country are installing AI-powered vehicle cameras, including those operated by Flock Safety. The 2021 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included a provision requiring vehicles sold after 2026 to include “kill-switch” technology that monitors drivers for impairment. The U.S. House of Representatives rejected amendments by Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to stop this provision from going into effect. And in 2023, the National Transportation Safety Board publicly called for installing ISA technology in American vehicles — a policy some states are already implementing. The construction of AI data centers will further cement these technologies.
To combat these tyrannical policies and restore adherence to Americanist principles, an informed and vigilant electorate is more important than ever.
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