?Mitt Romney, like Barack Obama and other politicans, has learned a lesson about life in the digital age. There’s no such thing as a private fundraiser or an off-the-record conversation.
The reason is simple: Technology that fits in a palm or a pocket can unobtrusively record events and almost instantaneously post them on social media sites. All it takes is one person with a smartphone, and a lot of people have them. The number of smart phone users in the United States now exceeds 100 million.
George Orwell foresaw the dangers of ubiquitous surveillance in his dystopian novel “1984.” But in 2012, it’s not just “Big Brother” – or Homeland Security – who may be watching. Everybody’s watching – and recording.