“The term metaverse, like the term meritocracy, was coined in a sci fi dystopia novel written as cautionary tale. Then techies took metaverse, and technocrats took meritocracy, and enthusiastically adopted what was meant to inspire horror.”—Antonio García Martínez Welcome to the Matrix (i.e. the metaverse), where reality is virtual, freedom is only as free …

After the Biden administration failed to meet its target of vaccinating 70 percent of Americans by July 4, the president suggested he may turn to drastic measures to boost vaccination rates, including sending people “door-to-door — literally knocking on doors.” The remark earned swift criticism. Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) tweeted, “BIG …

Big Brother is watching you.  Sadly, most people don’t realize how extensive the surveillance grid has now become.  As you drive to work or to school, license plate readers are systematically tracking where you travel.  In major cities, thousands of highly advanced security cameras (many equipped with facial recognition technology) …

“You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.”—George Orwell, 1984 It had the potential for disaster. Early in the morning of Monday, December 15, 2020, Google suffered a major worldwide outage in which all …

The United States government has rolled out incredibly totalitarian measures that amount to human rights violations in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.  Unfortunately, long after this pandemic is a distance memory, the authoritarian controls will still be in place. Local governments and the Centers for Disease …

There is no doubt we are living in increasingly Orwellian times. Most of us are not surprised when it is revealed that yet another government agency is spying on us in yet another way. Being surveilled nearly everywhere we go (and even in our own homes) has become the norm. And if …

Security teams for Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Microsoft met with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence’s office to coordinate a strategy to “secure” the 2020 elections. And by “secure” they mean to manipulate the results of the election in any way possible to …

“You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.”—George Orwell, 1984 Supposedly the National Security Administration is going to stop collecting certain internet communications that merely mention a foreign intelligence target. Privacy advocates are …

The mainstream media is all in an uproar over Donald Trump’s claim that Barack Obama personally ordered the phones in Trump Tower to be “wiretapped” just before the election. But nobody should really be surprised that the government was listening to Donald Trump’s phone calls. After all, the truth is …

IBM has a vision for you, Mr. and Mrs. Global Citizen, a vision for Smarter Cities around the globe. You have not been consulted about it but you will be subjected to their vision whether you agree to it or not. And if you want to learn more about IBM’s …