Should we be scared of our television? Welcome to the modern day panopticon.

Behind Winston's back the voice from the telescreen was still babbling away about pig iron and the overfulfillment of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plate commanded, he could be seen as well as heard.

There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. but at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You have to live - did live, from habit that became instinct - in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.

www.theorwellreader.com...

Maybe we can't go live in the woods, but we all should find a quiet place to retreat to once in a while, for our sanity's sake! Shut it all off and just listen to nature for a change. Think of how it all sounds when the power goes out. Kinda nice, isn't it?

www.youtube.com...

Television - The drug of the nation.

originally posted by: Pitou
I'm at a point where I believe that if I want some hint of privacy, I need to go live in a cabin in the woods, without internet, smartphone or anything. These recent developments are really eerie and creepy. It's all a lot worse than you think, but how to ever stop this? We could only try to escape and live a low-tech life.

Excellent thread, OP, and excellent post here in reply.

Did anyone notice in Petraeus's linked comments, that last phrase….."…..energy harvesting?"

Hmmmm. Great. This can mean many things, but all of them are pretty bad.

a reply to: cuckooold

Frankly, I'd be much more concerned about my PC and other such devices. The information that can be gathered from what you do with your TV is of limited utility. Sure. It's a violation of privacy one way or another but your PC is much more interactive.

Look at it this way. If you're interested in the activities of "Big Brother" you might go to Google and type in exactly what you're looking for. Your PC (and probably your ISP) and Google makes a flawless record of that. If this kind of thing becomes a pattern, I'm sure that will be noted in your record as well.

Frankly, I worry more about that kind of thing than I do about my TV making note of the fact that I watch Pawn Stars.

And of course, all the lovely people on Facebook with their like button. That could build a pretty detailed psychological profile. And more disturbingly, because people are often silly online and don't take the things they browse or rate too seriously, it could build a highly inaccurate psychological profile.

originally posted by: BrianFlanders

And of course, all the lovely people on Facebook with their like button. That could build a pretty detailed psychological profile. And more disturbingly, because people are often silly online and don't take the things they browse or rate too seriously, it could build a highly inaccurate psychological profile.

But surely a highly inaccurate psychological profile would work in your favour?

a reply to: cuckooold

Not surprising probably will run on cat 6. You know a over haul of cctv is accuring the ominous change over from analog to ip is looming. Today a huxley world tommarow a owellian world.