‘ OPTIONAL’ SOCIALIZATION

Employees at The Circle are coerced into socializing their entire day: what they’re interested in, how they’re feeling, what their plans are. The dark side, of course, is that none of that information actually belongs to them anymore. This debate is already raging, not just for the millions glued to Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, but also for those who are simply scrolling through Amazon Prime on their computers. Thanks to Donald Trump’s recent rollback of Internet privacy rules passed last year by the Federal Communications Commission, it’s now legal for Internet providers to sell customers’ information — including their search histories. Welcome to the future. FUTURISTIC POINTS: 0