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title = "Literally 1984"
date = 2026-08-25
extra.image = "/assets/images/post-image/literally-1984.png"
extra.header_title = "literally-1984"
+++
*"Who controls the past, controls the future; who controls the present, controls the past."*
— George Orwell, *1984*
In 1949, Orwell wrote a novel about an oppressive government that controlled information, constantly surveilled its citizens, and rewrote history. Many people who have read this book are disturbed by how familiar it feels.
What most people don't know, however, is that we aren't just close. We are already there.
The infrastructure that Orwell described all the way back in 1949 isn't fictional anymore. The mass-surveillance and censorship of 1984 already exists in 2026, not in the form of giant telescreens on your wall, or recalls of all books, or memory holes — but in the form of your smartphone, your laptop, and every piece of modern technology around you.
## Part I: Your life is theirs
### Privacy is a basic human right
In 1984, the government installed telescreens in every house, and every room, to constantly surveil and track everyone wherever they go.
In 2026, everyone is under constant surveillance, and they are either oblivious to it, or don't care enough to take action against it.
Our phones are constantly listening to us, watching us, and tracking everything we do online. Even your antivirus is tracking you.
Yes, your antivirus.
In 2020, Avast (and its subsidiary, AVG) was caught collecting and selling user personal data without consent. Avast quickly responded to the allegations, stating they were **true**, but the data was **"anonymized"** and **"aggregated"**.
The catch is, "anonymized" data can be **deanonymized** when paired with truckloads of existing data (and for an antivirus that might also collect browsing history, that's pretty scary, isn't it?). EULAs can also change overnight. For all you know, the EULA could change, you press "Accept" out of habit, and now they collect **fully identified data**.
Why do they do all this? They do it in the name of "targeted advertising". In reality, it's just data collection — data that can (and will) be used against you by anyone who chooses to purchase it, whether that is governments, surveillance agencies (*cough cough, Palantir*), megacorporations, or anyone else.
Think about it. Think *carefully*. How much do you *really* know yourself?
In 2026, the algorithm knows more about you than you do. And you should be afraid of that.
### You will own nothing and be happy
In 1984, nothing is yours except the brain in your skull. Everything is rented, borrowed, temporary.
In 2026, media is purchased digitally. Most of the time, you aren't even purchasing the media, you're just purchasing a license to use the media that can be revoked at any time.
You don't own your media. You borrow it.
In 2026, most computation happens in this "magical internet place" people call "the cloud".
You know what the cloud *really* is?
It's just someone else's (usually owned by megacorporations or governments) computer(s) in a server rack. This is intentional. If your data and computational tasks are offloaded to the cloud, then your data and entire digital life isn't yours. It is theirs.
### The computer is an extension of the soul
The phone in your pocket.
The laptop in your bag.
The desktop on your desk.
They aren't just devices. They're a deeply personal prosthetic memory.
Your phone remembers all of your contacts, your calendar, your photos and videos, your search history, and your communications.
**If someone took away all of your devices right now, would you still be the same person? Could you remember your friends' phone numbers? Could you find your way around town without GPS? Could you access your calendar, your photos, your notes, your memories?**
Whether you like it or not, in 2026, you can't escape technology. Technology isn't just another tool. It's a part of you.
If your identity lives on a device you don't control, on other people's computers (the "cloud"); if your so-called "prosthetic memory" is always under constant surveillance, then who *really* owns your soul?
## Part II: Doublethink in silicon
*"War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength."*
— George Orwell, *1984*
Orwell wrote about a society where people were forced to believe two contradictory things at once. In 2026, we do it voluntarily. We know we are being spied on. We know we don't control our own digital lives. We know we don't control our own software. And yet, we click "Accept" anyway. Because we can't live without technology.
### The Ministry of Hardware
In every Intel CPU, there's a secondary chip hiding away, with complete access to and full control over the PC.
It's called the Intel ME, which stands for Intel Management Engine.
In fact, the ME has more control over your own computer than you do.
You *cannot* turn it off, and you absolutely *cannot* see what it is doing.
It runs when your computer is "powered off", as long as the motherboard is powered.
It has direct access to your network card, your CPU registers, your screen, your RAM, and your storage.
The ME is its own little computer inside your CPU. It runs its own operating system and its own proprietary code. It has full access to your computer, and communicates with the internet directly via your network card.
Intel claims this system is for "security" and "hardware management". Maybe that's true, maybe it's not. We don't know. The source code is proprietary, and Intel chooses to release as little information about it as possible. We have to trust them.
And, in 2026, trust is a dangerous thing to give.
### The telescreen in your operating system
In 2024, Microsoft announced Windows Recall, an AI-powered feature that would take periodic screenshots of your screen, analyze it, and make it searchable. Every moment of your digital life, every small artifact of your prosthetic memory, indexed and stored in a database.
There was immediate backlash and controversy. Security professionals pointed out that the screenshots included sensitive data. Emails, bank statements, passwords, medical records, private messages, confidential documents, NDA agreements — everything on your computer, stored by default.
Microsoft's response to this wasn't to remove the feature. It was to make it *opt-in.* Yes, that implies it was enabled by default on launch, which is pretty horrifying. While the data is stored locally, and while it is opt-in, that doesn't mean anything when the EULA can change overnight, or when Microsoft can push a silent update to enable it by default for all users. It doesn't mean anything when a silent EULA change can make all data from Windows Recall suddenly sent to the cloud.
In 1984, the telescreen watched you.
In 2026, your operating system watches you, and offers to help you search through the footage.
### Proprietary software: you don't own it, it owns you.
In 1984, the Party controlled every word. Books were recalled, rewritten, destroyed, or just never published.
In 2026, that control is in the hands of the corporations.
Proprietary software, software whose source code is hidden, is the normal in our society. Windows, macOS, Chrome, Photoshop, and most apps on your phone are all closed-source. You don't know what they're doing in the background. You can't audit them. You can't tweak them.
This is intentional.
When software is proprietary, the user can't do anything about it. The developer decides what features to add, what to fix, what to break, what data to collect, and where telemetry goes. The user can only accept or deny, and denying normally means you lose access to a part of the digital world entirely.
### School surve–I mean, "classroom management".
Linewize, Qoria, ContentKeeper, StudentKeeper, N4L, Palo Alto, Fortiguard, GoGuardian, Gaggle.
These are the companies that turn your school into a surveillance state.
What most people don't know is that school monitoring software stays active outside of school hours. Students are monitored 24/7, no matter the circumstances.
This surveillance software doesn't just block inappropriate websites. It logs everything. Keystrokes, browser history, emails, messages, and documents. Teachers can view your screens in real-time. Your camera and microphone can be activated remotely without a permission dialog.
The reason? "Student safety" and "classroom management". While those might be the focuses, the level of surveillance imposed on children, many being under the age of 13, is frightening and should not reach this level. Everything your child does online is passed through an AI, is passed through automatic filtering software, and records are kept by school districts.
The worst part? The list of "concerning" topics is proprietary. The black-box AI is quite good at false positives. Students get flagged for doing legitimate research on mental health or political topics. One of my own satirical sites was flagged as "grayware" by Palo Alto, and I had to submit a recategorization request.
In 2026, schools aren't just learning environments. They're high-security prisons.
### Palantir: the Thought Police in the cloud
Palantir Technologies is an American data analytics company co-founded by Peter Thiel. They build software that takes in massive amounts of data — from government databases, medical bills, phone records, bank statements, social media, satellite imagery, and even car GPS — to find patterns and connections using AI.
They work with the CIA, the NSA, the FBI, the IDF, the Trump administration, the Pentagon, NSO Group, and other intelligence agencies around the world.
In 1984, the Thought Police used telescreens and witnesses to track people and notice patterns.
In 2026, Palantir uses AI to monitor *everyone*, all at the *same time*, across the entire internet and every dataset that could be even *remotely* linked to you.
You don't even need to be doing something illegal to be flagged. The AI can just notice an anomaly, a pattern broken, or a topic they don't want you to talk about, and suddenly, you become a person of interest.
The thing about surveillance in 2026 is that it's universal. You aren't being watched because you're suspicious, you're being watched because you exist.
---
## Sources
Orwell, G. (2021). *Nineteen Eighty-Four.* Penguin Classics.
TechCentral. (2020, January 28.) *Report: Avast and AVG collect and sell your personal info via their free antivirus programs.* TechCentral.
[https://www.techcentral.ie/report-avast-and-avg-collect-and-sell-your-personal-info-via-their-free-antivirus-programs](https://www.techcentral.ie/report-avast-and-avg-collect-and-sell-your-personal-info-via-their-free-antivirus-programs)
Portnoy, E. & Eckersley (n.d.) (2017, May 8). *Intel's Management Engine is a security hazard, and users need a way to disable it.* Electronic Frontier Foundation.
[https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/05/intels-management-engine-security-hazard-and-users-need-way-disable-it](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/05/intels-management-engine-security-hazard-and-users-need-way-disable-it)
persmule. (2016, November 17). *Neutralize ME firmware on SandyBridge and IvyBridge platforms.* Hardened Linux.
[https://hardenedlinux.github.io/firmware/2016/11/17/neutralize_ME_firmware_on_sandybridge_and_ivybridge.html](https://hardenedlinux.github.io/firmware/2016/11/17/neutralize_ME_firmware_on_sandybridge_and_ivybridge.html)
Williams, I. (2026, April 16). *Microsoft's Recall tool is back and still has major security concerns — but the company denies any data risk.* TechRadar.
[https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/microsofts-recall-tool-is-back-and-still-has-major-security-concerns-but-the-company-denies-any-data-risk](https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/microsofts-recall-tool-is-back-and-still-has-major-security-concerns-but-the-company-denies-any-data-risk)
State of Surveillance. (2025, December 5). *Your Kids Are Being Watched 24/7.* State Of Surveillance.
[https://stateofsurveillance.org/articles/government/school-surveillance-technology/](https://stateofsurveillance.org/articles/government/school-surveillance-technology/)
Palantir Technologies (n.d.). *Palantir.* Palantir.
[https://www.palantir.com/](https://www.palantir.com/)
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