by Daniel J. Solove
One of the most well-known classic privacy books is George Orwell’s 1984, and it has been published in countless editions around the world. I enjoy collecting things, and I’ve gathered up more than 50 book covers of various editions of the novel. I find it interesting how various artists and designers try to capture the novel’s themes. I thought I’d share the covers with you.
Orwell’s 1984 chronicles a harrowing totalitarian society, one that engages in massive surveillance of its citizenry. Everywhere are posters that say “NSA Big Brother Is Watching You.” From the novel:
Outside, even through the shut window-pane, the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere. The black moustachio’d face gazed down from every commanding corner. There was one on the house-front immediately opposite. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said, while the dark eyes looked deep into Winston’s own. Down at streetlevel another poster, torn at one corner, flapped fitfully in the wind, alternately covering and uncovering the single word INGSOC. In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs, hovered for an instant like a bluebottle, and darted away again with a curving flight. It was the police patrol, snooping into people’s windows.
Another technique of surveillance is called the “telescreen,” which is a two-way TV set — as citizens watch television, someone from Big Brother could be watching them. Today, the “telescreen” is called “the Internet.”
Another short excerpt from the novel:
There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted 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.
Now without further ado, here are the cover images. Enjoy!
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This post was authored by Professor Daniel J. Solove, who through TeachPrivacy develops computer-based privacy training, data security training, HIPAA training, and many other forms of awareness training on privacy and security topics.
Professor Solove is the organizer, along with Paul Schwartz of the Privacy + Security Forum (Oct. 21-23 in Washington, DC), an event that aims to bridge the silos between privacy and security.
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