An Orwellian Year in Review

2010 is described as a year in which privacy diminished even further. The text links this to changes in Facebook’s privacy settings and to the persecution of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, which appears as an attack on press independence.

Reading notes

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• The author presents 2010 as a year in which the world moved closer to an Orwellian scenario, with a loss of privacy and control over one’s own life.
• Facebook is compared to Big Brother because of changes in its privacy controls and the platform’s growing reach over online life.
• The phrase attributed to Mark Zuckerberg, that “privacy is no longer a social norm”, appears as an example of the normalization of the end of privacy.
• The persecution of Julian Assange is linked to the role of the “Ministry of Truth”, which in the text represents propaganda, Newspeak, and repression of those who tell the truth.
• The text states that the major media outlets follow the line of power and that WikiLeaks would be one of the few remaining voices.
• The comparison with the four ministries of 1984 is used to say that war, lies, torture, and poverty remain present in 2010.
• The author mentions the war in Iraq, torture in Guantánamo Bay, and the advance of draconian laws as signs of ever greater control.
• The conclusion says that 1984 has finally arrived, with constant surveillance, news altered by those in power, and civil liberties practically nonexistent.