Privacy: Here and There

            Of all the disturbing qualities of the future America in Super Sad True Love Story, what I find most unsettling is the fact that no information is private anymore; from transparent jeans to otters with queries about sexual encounters, there is a complete lack of regard for personal boundaries in Shteyngart’s dystopian world.  However, more disturbing than the depiction of a society in which credit scores and cholesterol levels are available to any stranger is the fact that signs of such a future exist in the real present.   Consider news that has recently surfaced concerning the activity of Edward Snowden and the National Security Administration.  In a fairly recent interview with The Guardian, Snowden states, “I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.”  He also warns, “You will never be safe whatever protections you put in place.” 

In Shteyngart’s dystopia, the government’s tracking of individuals goes beyond knowing names of hookups and health-related statistics.  On page 116 of the novel, after making a remark against the government online, Sally says to Eunice:  “Yeah, I know, I’m not supposed to talk like that over Teens.”  This makes it clear that, in this less-than-ideal future world, freedom of speech is not a basic right. 

While reading, I have often found myself wondering how this privacy-proof world possibly came about.  Gradually, I came to the same conclusion about which Megan spoke in her entry:  this disturbing world came to be because no one stopped it.  People compromised their privacy for convenience and excitement, and, little by little, their lives have become overtaken.  I then asked myself, is the same thing not happening today?  In the article “Google:  don’t expect privacy when sending to Gmail,” author Dominic Rushe uncovers the fact that Google reads private emails.  I’m pretty sure that all of us use Gmail; it’s an easy, free way to keep in contact with people and conduct business.  However, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”  I think this is something that is not only important for the characters in the novel to realize, but for us to realize as well, especially as technology infiltrates every area of our lives.  I’m interested to see whether or not Lenny decides to stand up for his privacy and revolt in the novel.