Microsoft Announces a Great New Feature That Tracks All Your Activity by Taking Constant Screenshots. What's the Worst That Could Happen?

Rafael Henrique. Shutterstock Images.

Anytime you talk about current technology or the surveillance state we find ourselves in, the default setting is to go straight to referencing Orwell's 1984. But the better model for the state of things in the 21st century is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, which was written decades earlier. In Huxley's dystopian vision of the future, a powerful centralized government controls the population not by fear and oppression, but through comfort and pleasure. Drugs. Sex. Entertainment. Whereas Orwell saw a world where powerful interests ban books and hide the truth, Huxley saw one where none of that is necessary because no one will read books and truth "would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance." But in both men's visions, the population remains very much docile and controlled. 

Each is a masterpiece. Two of the most important literary works ever published. And each is applicable to today in its own way. But I'll argue that Huxley's is the more accurate. Because while Orwell's future involved spying on people by threats and brute force, we've chosen to get spied on willingly. We go out and buy the spy devices and carry them with us everywhere we go. 

Which brings us to the latest voluntary spy tech that is about to hit the market. One that has been announced proudly and with great fanfare. Not as a bug, but literally as a feature:

So the company that is simultaneously working to develop this little gem:

… wants to make it so this guy has access to every move you make on their PCs:

And before I get accused of exaggerating what exactly is involved here and what kind of information Recall will be "storing" in order to make your life more convenient, take note of this little item on Windows own FAQ page:

Great. So you'll never again have to worry about things like your passwords and financial account information hidden. It'll always be there for you. And them. And anyone else who might take an interest in your log-ins and life's savings. Along with … basically everything else. The sites you visit. The messages you sense. The articles you read. The videos you watch. The videos you rewatch after a suitable refractory period. All conveniently screenshotted for your perusal. And theirs. 

Of course, this means nothing to me. Anyone who bothers to screenshot my web surfing on any given day better have a keen interest in scholarly articles, military history YouTubes and the sort of wholesome entertainment that is suitable for a general audience. But your mileage may vary on that. As is your right as a citizen of the freest nation in the history of the planet. (Or used to be.) But I guess they assume you'll find Recall worth it for all the time and effort you'll save searching for your stuff. They must. Because they presumably spent a lot of time and money developing this system no one but them ever asked for. 

Personally though, I'm with Elon:

And if this becomes the new normal, I'm signing up to be on Musk's first rocket to Mars. 

Speaking of Mars, it shouldn't be lost on anyone that Microsoft named this new feature after yet another dystopian vision of a hellish future. One in which a quasi-government agency controls every aspect of your life until you can't separate reality from fiction:

Pass. Hard, hard pass. I'll go back to living in a cave before I sign up for Recall. Total or otherwise.