"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."
"In Los Angeles, you can always find a party. In Russia, the Party can always find YOU!"
— Yakov Smirnoff
"The unobserved state is a fog of probability, a window of and for error. The watcher observes, the fog collapses, an event resolves — a theory becomes a fact. What is the truth? Tell me if you know... heh, and I will not believe you. Things are never as they seem. Clean gloves hide dirty hands and mine are dirtier than most. Without truth there can be no justice. Justice will be done!"
— Trevor Goodchild, Æon Flux
Tyrion: Podrick, they'll be following you now.
Pod: Who, my lord?
Tyrion: I don't know! They! They! The ominous "they".
Pod: Who, my lord?
Tyrion: I don't know! They! They! The ominous "they".
"You are being watched. The government has a secret system, a Machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it. I designed The Machine to detect acts of terror, but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people, people like you, crimes the government considered irrelevant. They wouldn't act so I decided I would, but I needed a partner, someone with the skills to intervene. Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You'll never find us, but victim or perpetrator, if your number's up, we'll find you."
— Harold Finch, Person of Interest, Season 1 Opening Narration
Lisa: [being listened to] But we're fugitives. We should just lay low 'til we get to Seattle.
NSA Man: HEY, EVERYBODY, I FOUND ONE! THE GOVERNMENT ACTUALLY FOUND SOMEONE WE'RE LOOKING FOR! YEAH, BABY, YEAH!
"Our venerable organization makes its home in London, the CCTV capital of the world. The Illuminati might have your social security number, your birth certificate and your password, but we have detailed footage of everything that you've ever done. And now, thanks to you, we have unprecedented access to the same in Tokyo. That's one for the red team."
— Richard Sonnac, The Secret World
Just assume every conversation is on record.
I am Syn. I see all... I. am. everywhere...
— Syn, from Turbo Overkill
Under this new regime, the precise moment at which our needs are met is also the precise moment at which our lives are plundered for behavioral data, and all for the sake of others' gain. The result is a perverse amalgam of empowerment inextricably layered with diminishment.
— Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
