Peregrinus enim est, qui alio loco moratur.
A Peregrinus is one who dwells elsewhere.
A people moving through a surveilled world
Cameras are everywhere. Many are no longer simply recording. They are reading.
Facial recognition systems map the geometry of a face and match it against databases. Number plate recognition systems log vehicles, locations, and times of travel. Gait analysis identifies a man or woman by the way they walk, even when their face is obscured. The data collected in these ways is stored, shared between agencies and corporations, and in a growing number of cases sold.
The men and women whose data is taken were not asked. They did not agree. The system was built on the assumption that presence in a public space is consent enough.
It is not.
Who the Peregrini are
The Peregrini are a people.
In Roman law, a peregrinus was a free man or woman who moved through Roman territory outside the civil register – governed not by the administrative machinery of the civil state but by the ius gentium, the law of peoples common to all free men and women. The category was formally recognised in 242 BC with the establishment of the praetor peregrinus, the magistrate appointed to administer justice for those who stood outside the citizen register. It endured for centuries because the distinction it drew was real and important: a peregrinus was not outside the law. They were outside the register. That is a different thing entirely.
The Peregrini today are the men and women who hold and assert that same position – living men and women moving through surveilled spaces in their own right, under the common law applicable to all free men and women, outside the data harvesting framework that presumes their consent.
They share a common identity, a common position in law, and a common interest in determining what is done with their own bodies, their own images, and their own data. As a people, they hold the right of self-determination recognised in Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – the right to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their own development without outside interference. The Australian Government’s own Attorney-General’s Department confirms that no minimum number fixes when a group of men and women becomes a people. The right attaches to what they share and what they assert together.
The House of Lords in Udny v Udny (1869) drew a clear distinction between political status – the indelible condition of the free man or woman, attaching at birth – and civil status, which can only legitimately change through voluntary act and intention. The biometric data system seeks to impose a civil classification on every man and woman within its reach without their voluntary participation. That classification cannot attach without the free and voluntary intention of the man or woman concerned. The Peregrini have not given it. They have withdrawn it.
The Peregrini determine their own will. They have not delegated it to a politician, a party, or a representative. Each speaks in their own name and on their own authority.
There is no organisation to join. There is no register to sign. There are no fees. There is no hierarchy.
A man or woman stands as Peregrinus by their own declaration – made in their own words, in their own hand, on their own terms.
What this site provides
This site exists to place the position of the Peregrini on the record – and to give every man and woman who stands with this people the tools to do the same.
Here you will find:
A Declaration – the foundation of a Peregrinus’ standing, made in their own hand, dated and autographed, kept for their own records.
Template notices ready to serve on any entity that operates biometric surveillance – councils, retailers, government agencies, transport authorities, and any other operator whose system captures the image, face, or movement of a Peregrinus.
A Calderbank offer and liquidated damages schedule, incorporated in the notice, documenting a damages claim per breach from the date of service.
A short plain-language letter for situations where a full formal notice is not yet warranted but a position needs to be placed on record with a specific operator.
Signage and vehicle artwork, free to download and print, so that the Peregrinus identifier can be displayed visibly – placing every operator on constructive notice that the man or woman before their lens has withdrawn consent.
Teeshirts, hoodies, tanks and hats with a Peregrinus identifier – placing every operator on constructive notice that there is no consent to the harvesting of their biometric data.
A Cases and Authority page setting out the verified legal decisions and instruments on which the Peregrini position rests.
Articles and resources examining the historical and legal foundations of the Peregrini position in depth.
All documents are free. No registration is required to access them.
The strength of the record
A single man or woman serving a notice is easy to ignore. A named people – with a documented identity, a common position in law, a historical foundation stretching back to 242 BC, and rights recognised under international covenant and confirmed by the decisions of superior courts – is not.
Every notice served adds to a cumulative record. Every operator who receives the class notice and continues to collect biometric data from a Peregrinus accumulates documented liability – breach by breach, date by date. The strength of the Peregrini lies not in any organisation but in the record, built steadily across every space where free men and women choose to assert who they are.
Nemo potest plus iuris ad alium transferre quam ipse habet. No one can transfer to another more right than they themselves have. The operators collecting this data had no right to it. They had nothing to give and nothing to sell. From the date a Peregrinus’ declaration is made, that position is stated, visible, and on the record.
Where to begin
Read the background – The basis in law framework: the ius gentium, the common law, Udny v Udny, international covenant, and the Privacy Act.
Make your Declaration – The foundation. A declaration in your own hand, dated and kept for your records, is the starting point of your standing as one of the Peregrini.
Serve a Notice – Download and serve a formal notice of withdrawal of consent on the operators in your area.
Wear it – Assert the position of the Peregrini every time you move through a surveilled space.
Stand as Peregrinus – Be counted.
Issued in the common interest of free men and women.
All Rights Reserved – Without Prejudice – Without Recourse
Contact
If you’d like to contact the coordinator, email office@peregrini.au
| Click the link at right to be counted as one of the Peregrini (no tracking collected or stored by this site) |
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