If you want to read a novel that paints a bleak picture of our future, then read Nineteen Eighty-Four. It was written by George Orwell way back in 1949, and basically describes a future society that controls all thought and expression, in favor of the ruling party. Government surveillance of the population runs rampant, with little or no privacy.

I remember when 1984 arrived thinking how glad I was that this vision of the future was wrong. Unfortunately though, it’s starting to look like certain aspects of the novel are in fact becoming real. Just look at the NSA and it’s surveillance program (which it just ended…maybe), or all the talk about installing back-doors into applications so that governments can track “terrorists”. Of course they won’t track us, right??

So today I read an article at ComputerWorld authored by Darlene Storm…

LA’s plan to scan license plates and send Dear Prostitute-seeking John letters

Incredible!! Just driving through the area could trigger this letter. Yes, we need to target the John’s and do what we can to shut down the sex-slave industry, but I’m not sure this is a good solution. Plus, our society is already a lot closer to 1984 than some may care to think…with all of the license plate scanning, facial recognition, and related Internet tracking that is in effect now, our perceived level of privacy is much smaller than we think.

So, we need to ask (if it’s not already too late), where do we draw the line?