Ticketmaster tyranny

Seeing how the media can't contain its glee about COVID-19, this hasn't been a perfect week for the media ghouls. On Monday, Pfizer revealed that its new vaccine has more than a 90% efficacy rate, and its long-awaited approval is nigh. I have no objection to vaccines in general, and I hope to receive this vaccine the day I'm offered it.

But any reasonable person should be able to draw the line between medical progress and tyranny, and Ticketmaster is eager to turn this vaccine into a terrifying immunity passport. Ticketmaster is working on a new system that would require concertgoers to use their smartphone to verify their COVID-19 vaccination status or provide a recent negative test before being allowed to attend live shows.

Ticketmaster hopes to roll out this system in 2021. But why should the pandemic even still be a thing in 2021? The vaccine itself is supposed to be a tool in the arsenal to fight the pandemic, so why are the goalposts for the end of the pandemic being pushed back past the vaccine's rollout? As far as I'm concerned, once the vaccine is administered, the pandemic is over.

As with COVID-19 itself, the media seems to be expressing much glee over Ticketmaster's new system - boasting that the technology will also be used for airline travel, amusement park entry, and employment verification. They're also rubbing their hands together in excitement that it will boost the fortunes of investors who invest in it. In addition, another new technology will facilitate enforcement of social distancing at concerts. (Does anyone even still practice social distancing?)

This isn't how we do things in a free country. Even during a pandemic, we're supposed to have some freedom to move about and not subject ourselves to ridiculous high-tech misrule. Ticketmaster cares about one thing only: control.

There ought to be a law. There should be a law that says companies like Ticketmaster can't implement immunity passports like this. As eager as I am to get a vaccine and put the pandemic in the rear view mirror, Ticketmaster is guilty of little short of fascism.