Not sure yet how I feel about this but this is a point that needs to be considered. "If George Orwell were alive now (21 years after the London he depicted in 1984) he would be astonished by the fact that the sort of surveillance he feared is supported not by a government imposing it from above on an unwilling population but by a groundswell of popular support. That's not a problem at the moment. But it will be in future, either if we sign away civil liberties permanently in response to a temporary emergency or if the cost of installing the infrastructure becomes so huge that it erodes our personal prosperity. Either way, Bin Laden would have won."
The real technological breakthrough in this has been the 'smart' software that can make a reasonable stab at following selected 'targets' and recognising faces. This makes the crucial difference to Orwell's nightmare. In 1984, the population were surveilled by people and the cost, implied by the lack of investment in the city and the low material wealth, was high. The cost is now low and many people can participate in surveillance with their own phone cameras etc. The SS records from Nazi Germany showed how willing people were to shop one another ...
not a hopeful precedent. The price of liberty is eternal vigilence.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Knowing me, knowing you:
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