1984: The masterpiece that killed George Orwell | Books | The Observer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/10/1984-george-orwell

Orwell had worked for David Astor's Observer since 1942, first as a book reviewer and later as a correspondent. The editor professed great admiration for Orwell's "absolute straightforwardness, his honesty and his decency", and would be his patron throughout the 1940s. The closeness of their friendship is crucial to the story of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

ith, an everyman for his times, continues to resonate for readers whose fears for the future are very different from those of an English writer in the mid-1940s.

Orwell v. Huxley

Or both right or both wrong.

Le pire étant de se rendre compte qu'ils ont tous deux raison...

huxley 2 orwell 1

so true.

Huxley vs Orwell

AHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA

"Publishers and other content providers make a grave error when they ensure that legitimately purchasing their products involves more hassle and uncertainty than simply pirating them." - one of the comments. Very true.

"This morning, hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers. [...] apparently the publisher changed its mind about offering an electronic edition, and apparently Amazon, whose business lives and dies by publisher happiness, caved. It electronically deleted all books by this author from people’s Kindles and credited their accounts for the price. " Allein die Tatsache, dass sich Leute so eine Ausgeburt an DRM-Geschwülsten zulegen, bei der deren Anbieter sogar noch retroaktiv Zugriff auf den vermeintlich eigenen Buchbestand hat... unglaublich.

it’s like Barnes & Noble sneaking into our homes in the middle of the night, taking some books that we’ve been reading off our nightstands, and leaving us a check on the coffee table. You want to know the best part? The juicy, plump, dripping irony? The author who was the victim of this Big Brotherish plot was none other than George Orwell. And the books were “1984” and “Animal Farm.”

Amazon removed purchased e-books from Kindles when a publisher had second thoughts about online distribution.

amazon smáznul z kindle čtečky lidem zakoupené kopie orwella, protože podle nakladatele byly neautorizované, sice jim poslal peéíz ena účet, ale udělal to bez ptaní, druhej den prostě knížku ve čtečce neměli

Already, we’ve learned that they’re not really like books, in that once we’re finished reading them, we can’t resell or even donate them. But now we learn that all sales may not even be final.

view on the future

from Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death--in cartoon form

"Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egotism."

As an ex-Brit, I’m well aware of the authorities’ love of surveillance and snooping, but even I, a pessimistic cynic, am amazed by the governments latest plan: to install Orwell’s telescreens in 20,000 homes.

£400 million ($668 million) will be spend on installing and monitoring CCTV cameras in the homes of private citizens.

Ein Wörterbuch über Begriffe aus Sicherheitsdebatten und was damit eigentlich gemeint ist.

Wie lassen sich Einschränkungen der Freiheit als Gewinn verkaufen? Indem man sie sprachlich vernebelt. Ein Katalog des Neusprech der Inneren Sicherheit

Untersucht mit welchen Worten die immer neuen Einschränkungen persönlicher Freiheiten gerechtfertigt werden, die in den vergangenen Jahren im Zuge des "Kampfs gegen den Terror" und der Stärkung des abwehrbereiten Staates verabschiedet wurden.

herrlich und gefährlich, wie euphemismen eingesetzt werden, um polizeistaat-handlungen zu beschreiben. beispiel: "finaler rettungsschuss" statt schießbefehl/tötungsgenehmigung