5 ms·

Giant database plan 'Orwellian'

15 points by azharcs 18y ago

zandorg 18y ago
A friend of mine complained that Orwell, being a kind humanitarian, should not have a bad word named after him. Perhaps Stalinesque?
- dazzawazza 18y ago
  IMO to call something Stalinesque implies that it is not out of the ordinary for it to occur, just 'evil' in some way. Stalin was at least honest with his politics and motives. Orwellian implies something subversive, underhand and state driven. Much of current politics is driven by double speak. The politicians claim to _need_ this data to fight terrorism but at the same time acknowledge that the same data is already used in 95% of criminal cases. So they already have access to the data they need. What they _want_ is a database with which they can track everyones movements easily... they just can't bring themselves to say it. Living in the UK is like being a mouse in the hands of Lennie Small. You know you are cared for but are always on the brink of suffocation. I think Orwell would have been happy for his name to be used to describe, what he would see as, communist activities.
  - vixen99 18y ago
    'At least honest with his politics and motives'. Really? Are you talking about Joseph Stalin or maybe you're confusing him with Art B. Stalin who runs a convenience store at the end of our street and likes dabbling in local politics?
  - zandorg 18y ago
    Hi, you make a good point. I guess the term Orwellian is probably okay, if we take the novel 1984 as the description of the term.
anthonyrubin 18y ago
PBS has a new Masterpiece series that includes plot elements related to these systems in the UK: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/lastenemy/index.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/lastenemy/index.html
zandorg 18y ago
I haven't read it all. However, I applied for a new 10-year passport in 2005 to bypass the ID card scheme. But they keep coming up with the same old crap and I don't know how to evade them indefinitely.
streety 18y ago
Any suggestions on how to mitigate the risks of a technologically inept government leaving a list of all the sites I visit on a train? Route all traffic through a VPN out of country perhaps?
- eru 18y ago
  Tor?

15 points by azharcs 18y ago

A friend of mine complained that Orwell, being a kind humanitarian, should not have a bad word named after him. Perhaps Stalinesque?

dazzawazza 18y ago
IMO to call something Stalinesque implies that it is not out of the ordinary for it to occur, just 'evil' in some way. Stalin was at least honest with his politics and motives. Orwellian implies something subversive, underhand and state driven. Much of current politics is driven by double speak. The politicians claim to _need_ this data to fight terrorism but at the same time acknowledge that the same data is already used in 95% of criminal cases. So they already have access to the data they need. What they _want_ is a database with which they can track everyones movements easily... they just can't bring themselves to say it. Living in the UK is like being a mouse in the hands of Lennie Small. You know you are cared for but are always on the brink of suffocation. I think Orwell would have been happy for his name to be used to describe, what he would see as, communist activities.
- vixen99 18y ago
  'At least honest with his politics and motives'. Really? Are you talking about Joseph Stalin or maybe you're confusing him with Art B. Stalin who runs a convenience store at the end of our street and likes dabbling in local politics?
- zandorg 18y ago
  Hi, you make a good point. I guess the term Orwellian is probably okay, if we take the novel 1984 as the description of the term.

anthonyrubin 18y ago

PBS has a new Masterpiece series that includes plot elements related to these systems in the UK: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/lastenemy/index.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/lastenemy/index.html

zandorg 18y ago

I haven't read it all. However, I applied for a new 10-year passport in 2005 to bypass the ID card scheme. But they keep coming up with the same old crap and I don't know how to evade them indefinitely.

streety 18y ago

Any suggestions on how to mitigate the risks of a technologically inept government leaving a list of all the sites I visit on a train? Route all traffic through a VPN out of country perhaps?

eru 18y ago
Tor?