Jeeper Creepers! Corporate Peepers!

A reader who is a lawyer writes:

Remember the “cute” Burger King snafu with its commercials triggering personal electronic devices? It was a test, apparently, of a feature they deliberately put into your cell phones.

And there’s no problem with remote-control technology being used to control your life at whim, with no requirement of justification under judicial review.

“We’ve arrived at a place where public institutions and figures can be precious about their privacy in ways we’re continually deciding individual people can’t. Stepping into the White House is now considered more private than that weird rash you Googled. It’s a cynical inversion of the old association between private life and the lower class: These days, only the powerful can demand privacy.”

The article mentions Orwell. In 1984, we’re told that unlike the 2-way TV in Winston’s apartment, the set in O’Brien’s residence could be turned off.

Feeling safer all the time.