From Total Information Awareness to 1984

Abstract

President Barack Obama, in his 2011 State of the Union Address, called America “the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers” and “of Google and Facebook” (1). On May 18, 2012, Facebook offered the largest technology IPO in history and the third largest U.S. IPO ever, trailing only Visa in March 2008 and General Motors in November 2010 (2). Selling 421.2 million shares to raise $16 billion, Facebook has a $104.2 billion market value and is more costly than almost every company in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (3). Former U.S. Treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers called Facebook’s offering “an American milestone” comparable to Ford and IBM’s, “Many companies provide products that let people do things they’ve done before in better ways. Most important companies, like Ford in its day or I.B.M. in its, are those that open up whole new capabilities and permit whole new connections. Facebook is such a company” (4). However, the Facebook IPO was also one of the biggest opening flops in stock market history. The stock was down by 16.5% at the end of its first full week of trading; and it took over a year for the stock to recover (see Appendix B).

“We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook.”

– President Barack Obama (January 2011)

“Our No. 1 enemy is ignorance. And I believe that is the No. 1 enemy for everyone — it’s not understanding what actually is going on in the world.”

– WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (May 2011)

“Google, Facebook would not exist, had it not been for investments that we made as a country in basic science and research.”

– President Barack Obama (April 2012)

“Our explicit strategy for the next several years is to focus on growing and connecting everyone in the world.”

– Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (February 2014)

“Every major technological innovation propels humanity forward to the point of no return. … Instead of turning back, we must continue to innovate and push humanity towards the next point of no return. It is a good thing.”

– Newton Lee