Another week, another revelation about the NSA world’s communications surveillance program. NSA processes enormous amounts of stored data, “communications or other data that is passed or accessible by electromagnetic means”.  And there is no limit to the records the NSA could collect, according to Keith Alexander, the agency’s director. The conclusion is the following: we are all being watched, all the time.

Since the beginning of the revelations about the U.S. National Security Agency’s massive data collection programs, a widely used phrase from George Orwell’s book “1984” has increased in popularity once again: “Big Brother is watching you!”. It seems that just by replacing the names in the book you could fit this story into the United States NSA story.
In the book, by means of telescreens and hidden microphones across the city, the Party was able to monitor its members almost all of the time. In the era before computers, the Party used complicated mechanisms to exert large-scale control on economic production and sources of information. 1984 reveals that technology, which is generally perceived as working toward moral good, can also facilitate the most diabolical evil. (suite…)