Almost everyone has heard of the novel *Year 1984* and the expression it gave us: Big Brother. One particularly interesting element appears in the book. In the main rooms of people’s homes, there were screens that broadcast propaganda, something resembling television, while also watching and listening to everything people did. They were not entirely unlike the televisions, computers, and smartphones we have today. At the same time, cameras and listening devices were placed throughout the cities and across the entire state controlled by Big Brother.
Now here is the interesting part: we are living in 2026.
Everyone has heard about surveillance cameras, and almost everyone encounters them in everyday life. Devices such as the Amazon Echo with Alexa, the Apple HomePod mini with Siri, and the Google Nest Mini with Google Assistant have also become popular.
Each of these devices performs a number of simple and useful functions. It can play music, radio stations, podcasts, and weather reports, as well as answer questions. But to do this, it must continuously listen for a wake word, such as “Hey Siri” or “Alexa.”
Manufacturers say that these devices process surrounding sounds locally only to detect the wake word. According to them, they do not continuously transmit everything happening in the room. Only when the wake word is detected does the device activate, record the command that follows, and send it to the servers of Apple, Amazon, or Google for processing.
Now consider an interesting example from 2018.
The London-based organisation Privacy International published a report showing that even when Android users selected the option not to have their data used for personalised advertising, data from certain applications continued to be sent to Facebook. Interesting, isn’t it? On Android, you could indicate: “I do not want my data to be used for personalised advertising.” Yet the data could still be transmitted, accompanied only by information stating that the user had opted out and did not want it used for that particular purpose.
This raises an important question.
Manufacturers claim that devices such as Alexa and Siri, although they are constantly listening for their wake words, do not transmit ordinary conversations before activation. They say that the device begins recording and sending the spoken request only after hearing “Alexa” or “Hey Siri.” Ultimately, however, we have to trust them.
*Nineteen Eighty-Four* reminds us that Big Brother does not necessarily arrive all at once. He may approach gradually, one convenient device and one new security measure at a time.
There is now a growing movement, particularly in the United Kingdom, but also in parts of the European Union and in some American states, toward identifying or verifying people who use certain online services. These proposals are often presented as necessary measures to protect children from harmful content and dangerous individuals. The proposed solution is increasingly some form of electronic age or identity verification. The stated purpose may sound reasonable. The deeper question is what kind of system will be created in order to achieve it, who will control that system, and what else it may eventually be used for.
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In 2017, WikiLeaks published a collection of alleged CIA documents known as Vault 7. Among them were descriptions of a project called Weeping Angel, reportedly developed by the CIA in cooperation with the British intelligence service MI5.
The project targeted certain Samsung smart televisions. According to the leaked documents, infected televisions could enter a “Fake-Off” mode. The screen and indicator lights made the television appear to be switched off, while its built-in microphone continued recording conversations in the room.
Documents disclosed by Edward Snowden revealed that the British intelligence agency GCHQ had operated a programme called Optic Nerve. Between 2008 and 2010, the programme intercepted still images from Yahoo webcam conversations. During one six-month period alone, images associated with approximately 1.8 million user accounts were reportedly collected, including images belonging to people who were not suspected of any crime.