" WHATWE’RE READING LITERARY INSIGHT from PRESENT & PAST ...How does the current state of governmental surveillance compare to the dystopian futures imagined by George Orwell and Philip K. Dick? Does the end of our anonymity as consumers mean the end of our rights to privacy as citizens? ‘What Do You Say To PeopleWho Think They Have Nothing to Hide?’ Longreads interviewwith NathanWessler, a lawyer with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project (THEY probably already know)
The Memphis police use the surveillance cameras to scan the streets for crime. The U.S. Army uses them to monitor a base in Missouri. Consumer models hang in homes and businesses across the country. At one point, the cameras kept watch on the U.S. embassy in Kabul. All the devices were manufactured by a single company... Surveillance Cameras Made by China Are Hanging All Over the U.S. The Wall Street Journal We may well be photographed at unsettlingly close range perhaps dozens of times daily, from lenses we may never see, our image stored in databases for purposes we may never learn. Our smartphones, Internet searches, and social media accounts are giving away our secrets. They AreWatching You – and Everything Else on the Planet National Geographic What if your employer made you wear a wristband that tracked your every move, and that even nudged you via vibrations when it judged that you were doing something wrong? What may sound like dystopian fiction could become a reality for Amazon warehouse workers around the world... If Workers Slack Off, theWristbandWill Know. (And Amazon Has a Patent for It.) New York Times Maybe it doesn’t faze you that your local police have a $400,000 device that listens in on cell phones. How will you feel when your neighbor has a $1,500 version? What Happens When the Surveillance State Becomes an Affordable Gadget? Bloomberg
In January, KIRO Radio captured surveillance footage of a vandal trying to break in to one of their employee’s vehicles in their parking lot. While the suspect is still at large, they took the liberty to have their sports commentator give a play-by-play of the incident. VIDEO: Vandal caught on camera KIRO Radio It was not immediately obvious why the ostensibly harmless letter ‘N’ had been banned, but some speculated it may either be being used or interpreted as a sign of dissent. China bans George Orwell’s Animal Farm and letter ‘N’ as censors bolster Xi Jinping’s plan to keep power indefinitely The Independent
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