Just another blog!

Ever since the Snowden leaks – and even before them – we've been hearing the word ‘Orwellian’ to describe the state of surveillance we're living under. But what exactly does the word ‘Orwellian’ mean? What was George Orwell so afraid of and that he cautioned us against? Reading two of his definitive books – ‘Nineteen Eighty-four’ and ‘Animal Farm’ – I cannot believe that Orwell was afraid of increasing surveillance. I believe that Orwell was afraid of something more. In the world described in ‘Nineteen Eighty-four’, constant, never-ending surveillance is only tiny part – a means to an end. The end what is scarier. Moreover, I refuse to believe that the word ‘Orwellian’ should be used to describe just one tiny component of one novel written. No, I believe that the description should apply to a broader concept. I believe that to understand the term ‘Orwellian’, one must look to the earlier story – ‘Animal Farm’. Indeed, I think that ‘Animal Farm’ really sets the stage for t...

Lately, I've seen a disturbing trend of increasing governmental control with a "think of the children" type justification. By "type", I mean any justification that appeals to irrational (though justified) that we may have, like fear for our children's safety. The British government is planning a nation-wide "porn firewall" that will restrict its citizens from accessing a number of websites, all in the noble cause of protecting children from the horrors of pornography. An admirable move, but think about the consequences. A number of companies selling porn filters will benefit via huge contracts, and citizens who are granted the right to freedom will have the right subtly snatched away from them. Now, you may think that I'm exaggerating when I say that citizens will lose freedom under such a censor-wall, after all, it's just pornography that they seek to block, right? No! If a government gets power to block websites, it can seek to suppre...

I'm paranoid! Seriously, is there no privacy in this world? My phone tracks me every time. Google knows where I go, where I stay; it has the audacity to point out that I spend most of my time in the middle of Powai Lake, and that I spend less than an hour a week on average at work. It knows that I spend almost all my time on 9gag.com , it knows that I keep searching for funny videos every minute. And all this information is going to big brother. I'm scared of even thinking anything wrong, because I've heard that Google has built a satellite named NOTHEU972 which measures the psychokinetic energy of the world, and can hence read out thoughts, similar to Peter Answers . I've also heard that the CIA pays huge amounts of money to Google to get access to the data collected by NOTHEU972. I dare not put any pictures on Facebook, as hackers are out there to take my pictures, morph them onto some objectionable content, and post them on objectionable sites. I dare not crack jo...