“If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.” George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-four
Rarely is a book, in this case George Orwell’s novel Ninety Eighty-four, so powerful that it creates its own word in the dictionary derived from the name of its author.
Quotes such as the above and “Big Brother is Watching” spawned the following :
Orwellian – “It denotes an attitude and a brutal policy of draconian control by propaganda, surveillance, misinformation, denial of truth, and manipulation of the past…”
Finished after he was released from the hospital in December, 1948, the book was published in June, 1949. Orwell died shortly thereafter in January of 1950 at the age of 46. I have always wanted to understand the inspiration behind this book as it is hauntingly accurate over 65 years later. Coupled with Animal Farm, Orwell’s vision of an overly intrusive society where information is power is the script on how not to manage people’s personal information and civil liberties.
I remember the first haunting read of the book as teenager and how it seemed so surreal that anything in the book could ever play out in real life. The daily reports on cyber-crime and hacking of and by the government initiates many reflections to what Orwell predicted and how it is unfolding before our eyes.
Maybe in this case, we don’t want to know what will surely be found out? 104,000 people had their fiscal histories stolen from the IRS. I can only imagine the breadth and opportunity for those will ill intent.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/06/02/irs-needs-to-do-more-to-fight-cyberattacks-watchdog-says/print
Unfortunately, we should not necessarily be at ease with the government’s handling of data in protecting us or its usage through side routes such as the latest action taken in February by the President:
http://oathkeepers.org/oktester/obama-wont-wait-for-cispa-signs-own-orwellian-cybersecurity-executive-order/
“Executive Order — Promoting Private Sector Cybersecurity Information Sharing”
Tidbits — The first a reaction to it…
“Typical of these concerns were the remarks of Apple CEO Tim Cook who gave a vigorous speech at the same Stanford cyber meeting that seemed to challenge the president’s appeal for greater cooperation. Cook issued a dire warning that the threat to privacy posed by technology “risks our way of life.”
What is scary is that there seems to be no specific reason to capture the information, nor disclosure as to how it will be used.
“The question is: what exactly will this function to do? What will these ‘Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations’ actually accomplish, and who will be incarcerated or targeted as a result of their work?”
Doublespeak?
If you are not paying attention to your own cyber security it is time to dive deep. Cyber attacks now cost $250k on average and most businesses need help in understanding how to prevent attacks and what to do when one occurs. In future columns, founder and CEO of the patented technology iCloak – Eric Delisle – will be adding expert opinion and advice from time to time and as the latest cyber threats unfold. There is no bigger exposure to a business at present due to the unknowns of cyber threats. Eric’s blog is a great place to further educate ourselves on the real exposures that loom today.
Eric’s company…
https://icloak.org/#features
and Eric’s blog…
https://icloak.org/is-our-approach-to-the-privacy-debate-wrong/
Let’s all close the shades on Big Brother and regain our liberty!
