Is Saudi Arabia’s Hyper-Futuristic NEOM a Surveillance City? The Line to Pay Residents for Their Data

In the desert sands of Saudi Arabia’s deep northwest, thousands of workers are building a futuristic city that the kingdom says will be like no other.

Out of the ancient sands will emerge a high-tech urban centre called The Line: zero-carbon with flying drones for taxis, holographs for teachers and even a man-made moon.

The smart city is housed within NEOM, a $500-billion business zone aimed at diversifying the economy of the world’s top…