These days it’s hard to tell if it’s 2003 or 1984. Things are so bizzare and surreal that the Russians are lecturing the Americans about Orwell, an author banned in the Soviet Union during the Cold War and now He-Whose-Name-Must-Not-Be-Spoken in America. US editorials detailing the current situation are seemingly drowned out by the drums of war. The latest Cassandra to weigh in is the American Civil Liberties Union. “A combination of lightning-fast technological innovations and the erosion of privacy protections threatens to transform Big Brother from an oft-cited but remote threat into a very real part of American life,” an ACLU report issued last Wednesday claims. Entitled “Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains: The Growth of an American Surveillance Society“, it continues, “It is not just the reality of government surveillance that chills free expression and the freedom that Americans enjoy. The same negative effects come when we are constantly forced to wonder whether we might be under observation.” With Super Bowl Sunday upon us, it is perhaps appropriate to remember that classic commercial that aired in 1984…