Can we avoid mentioning 1984 in surveillance discussions? I’ve encountered many anti-surveillance arguments that eventually boiled down to “1984 is scary”. But 1984 was a work of fiction, and as far as predictions go, it was wrong all over the place.
I want to be able to phrase good anti-surveillance arguments that people will find just as valid as if 1984 had never been written.
But 1984 was a work of fiction, and as far as predictions go, it was wrong all over the place.
The point of mentioning 1984 isn’t to use it as a study or a forecast. The point is reaction to the world depicted in it: most people find totalitarian, total-surveillance societies undesirable, disturbing, and basically evil.
1984 is also useful as a well-known reference. If someone says “I have nothing to hide, I don’t need privacy” you can ask him whether he’d be fine with the levels of surveillance depicted in 1984. He might say “yes, I don’t care”, he might say “no, that’s too much”, he might say “only in a democratic society”, etc.
But would you be fine with Bentham’s Panopticon, for example? Are examples of Soviet Russia, Eastern Germany, etc. OK?
Can we avoid mentioning 1984 in surveillance discussions? I’ve encountered many anti-surveillance arguments that eventually boiled down to “1984 is scary”. But 1984 was a work of fiction, and as far as predictions go, it was wrong all over the place.
I want to be able to phrase good anti-surveillance arguments that people will find just as valid as if 1984 had never been written.
The point of mentioning 1984 isn’t to use it as a study or a forecast. The point is reaction to the world depicted in it: most people find totalitarian, total-surveillance societies undesirable, disturbing, and basically evil.
1984 is also useful as a well-known reference. If someone says “I have nothing to hide, I don’t need privacy” you can ask him whether he’d be fine with the levels of surveillance depicted in 1984. He might say “yes, I don’t care”, he might say “no, that’s too much”, he might say “only in a democratic society”, etc.
But would you be fine with Bentham’s Panopticon, for example? Are examples of Soviet Russia, Eastern Germany, etc. OK?