A simple shopping trip turned into public humiliation for Byron Long, a 66-year-old Cardiff man wrongly accused of theft by a facial recognition system. What should have been a routine visit to a store became an ordeal of false accusation, shaming, and mental anguish. His image had been matched—incorrectly—by Facewatch, a private surveillance firm hired by retailers to track supposed offenders. Though he paid in full for nothing more than cat treats, he was branded a thief before strangers. This error, later admitted and “compensated” with a meager voucher, reveals more than human fallibility—it exposes the growing grip of machine-driven judgment over human lives.

Such misuses of technology echo warnings long spoken: a world where surveillance becomes accusation, and accusation becomes punishment without trial. Scripture tells us of a coming system where “no one can buy or sell” without submission to its mark of control. The wrongful branding of an innocent man in Cardiff is a shadow of that reality, a signpost of how swiftly society is surrendering truth and justice to algorithms that neither discern nor show mercy. As these systems spread unchecked, they condition the world to accept error, injustice, and intrusion as normal—laying the groundwork for a future where control replaces freedom and fear governs daily life.

SOURCE: Reclaim the Net