Seventy years ago, Eric Blair, writing under a pseudonym George Orwell, published “1984,” now generally considered a classic of dystopian fiction. The novel tells the story of Winston Smith, a hapless middle-aged bureaucrat who lives in Oceania, where he is governed by constant surveillance. Even though there are no laws,...
Big Brother Watching You? City Approves New Water Monitoring Plan.
Enforcement of Fresno’s water conservation rules is moving into the big data era. Critics wonder if “Big Brother” might be a better description. The Fresno City Council approved a pilot program Thursday that uses data from residential water meters to assess fines for violations of the city’s outdoor lawn watering...