It has forever been the dream of almost every state, intelligence agency, empire and totalitarian regime to oversee the doings of all of their subjects, to detect any hint of dissent, to control their movements, to influence their thinking and even to peer into their minds. That dream has hardly ever been achieved, no matter their efforts and determination, not because of any moral qualms or principles holding them back, but simply because they lacked the tools to do so.In this decade leading up to 2030, however, things have changed.

Does Mideast Panopticon — Urban Surveillance and Digital Identities — foretell our Dystopian Future?