The Mexican government passed a package of outrageously privacy-invasive laws in July that gives both civil and military law enforcement forces access to troves of personal data and forces every individual to turn over biometric information regardless of any suspicion of crime.
The laws create a new interconnected intelligence system dubbed the Central Intelligence Platform, under which intelligence and security agencies at all levels of government—federal, state and municipal—have the power to access, from any entity public or private, personal information for “intelligence purposes,” including license plate numbers, biometric information, telephone details that allow the identification of individuals, financial, banking, and health records, public and private property records, tax data, and more.
Here’s another example why you should never make it easier for your government to access your private information.
We all know that the Mexican government isn’t exactly a bastion of anti-corruption. Even if anti-crime efforts are commonly used to justify draconian measures, it doesn’t mean anything if those in power are compromised.
For example, what is preventing a cartel member from blackmailing a police officer or government official to access such information?
Just because you live in a “safe” country and not in Mexico or Russia does not mean that it will stay that way forever.