We're all pretty well-versed on the future legal ramifications of storing every byte of our lives somewhere. That's logical and straightforward. But exploring the effect on the human psyche and the societal repercussions of this growing surveillance state has gotten nowhere near enough attention. Some choice snippets: So, Hubski, you're reclining on a couch in my office while I cradle a clipboard in my arms. I want to know: "How does that make you feel?".The situation reminded me that the ferreting-out of secrets is merely one purpose of surveillance; it also disciplines, inhibits, robbing interactions of spontaneity and turning them into self-conscious performances.
Loss of privacy seemed like a tiny issue, suddenly, compared with the greater loss the [Utah Data Center] presaged: loss of existential stature.
There seemed to be no rational response to the feelings of powerlessness stirred by the cybernetic panopticon; the choice was either to ignore it or go crazy, at least to some degree.
Once you know how very little you know about those who wish to know everything about you, daily experience starts to lose its innocence and little things begin to feel like the tentacles of big things.
...I wondered whether a generation that found the concept of privacy archaic might be undergoing a great mutation, surrendering the interior psychic realms whose sanctity can no longer be assured.
There are so many ghosts in our machines—their locations so hidden, their methods so ingenious, their motives so inscrutable—that not to feel haunted is not to be awake.