Police in London have been dealing with an interesting problem while the country is in lockdown: how to keep people from leaving the city to go to their second homes.
They have begun looking for luggage during traffic stops to catch people traveling while the stay at home order is in place. But people have caught on and have used an interesting way to bypass traveling with luggage: they ship their stuff.
What if this government enforcement escalates, turning into a complete surveillance state?
Your phone can already track your information. There’s news that Apple and Google are teaming up to create an app that warns users about their proximity to those who have tested positive for COVID-19. It’s not too far of a stretch to have the police take over this data and use it to identify individuals who travel further than the average distance to the grocery store or doctor's office.
Taking it one step further, closer to 1984 territory: what if the thought of traveling was punishable by law. Our phones already have front cameras… what if these were used to determine who was planning to step out. First, it would show up as a redistribution of police forces to those most likely to travel, then the thought itself could be punishable.
The problem with large story worlds is making them small and personal, something a story can be written about.
The 1984 love story model works, but for this one, I think it could be useful to take the role of the cop. At first, he’s stopping everyone and does great at his job. He meets a young man who reminds him of himself then discovers he’s been able to deceive the devices and travel. The cop follows him and discovers he’s helping his mother. And that there are others like him.
He turns in the young man he followed. Then he decides to check on the mother, only to find her dead. Guilty, he breaks out the young man from jail.
In the second book there could be a development where the cop is in charge of investigating the group but then helps them escape, and the third could be the group helps the cop go underground.
