[https://pinupmagazine.org/articles/essay-5g-smart-city-drew-zeiba?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-pinupmagazine&utm_content=later-14552895&utm_medium=social&utm_source=instagram](https://pinupmagazine.org/articles/essay-5g-smart-city-drew-zeiba?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-pinupmagazine&utm_content=later-14552895&utm_medium=social&utm_source=instagram) An elevator you can call with facial recognition or a coffee you can order with your voice saves you from touching potentially contaminated surfaces. With its high connection speeds, 5G makes remote working easier, and could enable the mass urban-to-rural migration for which the pandemic has stoked demand. So why are people around the world setting 5G towers on fire?

The pandemic has ushered in further tracing by tracking. Already, contract-tracing apps and devices have become commonplace in China and Singapore, and companies like Apple and Google, as well as the policing- and spy-tech company Palantir, owned by billionaire and conservative donor Peter Thiel, have begun devising their own tracking solutions.