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Kyle Lavender

Movie buffs might remember the storyline of a 2005 film, V for Vendetta, highlighting a
futuristic London, England in 2020 that has been overcome by constant government surveillance
and shadowing. While striking a close resemblance to Adolf Hitler, Londons chancellor uses
government-run television news networks to show a doomsday view of the rest of the world. The
chancellors goal is to make his people so afraid that they wont mind the government intruding
into their personal lives. This large increase in government power has created a totalitarian state,
resulting in curfews for all English citizens while political opponents, immigrants, Muslims,
homosexuals and other undesirables are being imprisoned against their will in concentration
camps. During the day, an endless message of Strength through Unity. Unity through Faith is
repeated throughout every television or radio station around town (IMDB.com). Julian Assange,
creator of Wikileaks, explains in his book Cypherpunks about our own government using social
media like Facebook, internet search engines, and even our own mobile devices to provide big
data information about its users in order to increase our overall protection and point out possible
criminal actions or terrorist activities. If we look closely at the comparison between 2020
London in V for Vendetta and the U.S. government of today that is exposed by those like Julian
Assange, we can see a few scary similarities.
In the final chapter of Cypherpunks, Assange portrays his thoughts of the future for the
American people that sound very similar to our totalitarian London England in V for Vendetta.
All communications will be surveilled, permanently recorded, permanently tracked, each
individual in all their interactions permanently identified as that individual to this new
establishment, from birth to death Assange explains (Assange, Muller-Maguhn & Zimmerman
2012 p 157). With this new possible form of American life in the near future, citizens may begin
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to realize they have lost many rights and freedoms due to this increase in government
protection. Our first amendment right allows us the freedom of speech, press and assembly
(Cornell Law School). Without it, the government can regulate nearly every word you say,
denying you the right to express your thoughts and feelings. The wrong set of words being typed
into your blog or spoken in a public place might land you in jail for plotting possible crimes. The
freedom to associate will follow in the same footsteps because those who associate with these
criminals through Facebook, Twitter, or other social media will find themselves in trouble as
well. The totalitarian state of 2020 London England portrayed in the film may seem a little
dramatic at first glance but, unfortunately, at the rate the United States is developing, we may see
a similar way of life on the horizon..
In 2012, when WikiLeaks.org and its master mind creator Julian Assange exposed their
followers to the secrecy behind the U.S. governments surveillance programs in his book
Cypherpunks, one began to wonder what else our government was hiding from us, and if our
personal privacy was ever going to be the same. Assange has been the leading example over the
past decade for providing U.S. citizens the information their government wants kept behind
locked doors, or in recent cases computer screens. He has exposed materials documenting
extrajudicial killings in Kenya, a report of toxic waste dumping on the coast of Cote dIvoire,
Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay detention camp procedures, and the 12 July
2007 Baghdad airstrike video (WikiLeaks.org). However, his most controversial exposure of the
U.S. governments surveillance program, allowing them to spy on internet and cell phone users
throughout the United States has brought to light the thought of how much freedom and privacy
we really have, and if they will remain the same over the upcoming years. Assange described his
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thoughts about our near future if the government continues to invade our personal lives in an
interview with ABC News correspondent Linsey Davis. Assange explains,
What type of place is Western democracy going to be? Is it going to be a place
with a collapsing rule of law, with mass surveillance of entire populations? The
West is becoming a place where the best and the brightest, who keep the
government, hold the government to account, are ending up in asylum or in exile
in other countries. Weve seen that before with dictatorships in Latin America,
with the Soviet Union, and its time to stop (Kiwan 2013).
This lifestyle sounds undoubtedly like the times of Vendettas London England with a constant
Big Brother type threat looming in the darkness. Citizens who try to take a stand against the
actions of the English Chancellor find themselves thrown into jail or concentration camps.
Many have begun to believe in this wild comparison between life portrayed in V for Vendetta
and the possible future of the United States government and its people. One of these believers is
NewsBusters.org, a blog site that looks to expose any liberal media bias, insightful analysis,
constructive criticism and timely corrections to news media reporting. Tim Graham, Executive
Editor of NewsBusters.org has made many appearances on MSNBC, CNBC and Fox News
explaining his blogs and articles from the site. During the release of V for Vendetta back in 2005,
Graham noticed a CNN article that began to tie the movies chancellor to President Bush. What
many audiences are interpreting is a movie that some say strongly parallels whats going on
today. In the real world, you have wiretaps, suicide bombings, and the post 9/11 language of a
leader who uses tough talk to rally the people against terrorism (Graham 2006). Graham then
presents the readers with Bushs quotes explaining how justice will be brought to our enemies
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and compares them to the chancellor in the movie who states, Gentlemen, I want this terrorist
found. And I want him to understand what terror really means (Graham 2006). When reading
the two quotes from President Bush and the chancellor from the film, you can start to see a small
resemblance of fear and a threat of violence being portrayed. Bush wanted to ensure that our
enemies were fearful of how our government was going react after the 9/11 attacks. The
chancellor attempts to create the same message towards the main character in the movie after he
threatens the governments way of life. The Hitler-esque chancellor wants him to know that the
English government is out to get him and is ready to show him just how much power they have
over their people.
Another believer in this comparison between future American life and 2020 London England
is co-managing editor of the The Quinnipiac Chronicle, Doug Manners. Manners has mentioned
the similarities between 2020 London England and the United States of 2006 in an article titled,
V for Vendetta has relevance to current United States policy. Manners explains in his article,
In December, it was revealed that President Bush had authorized wiretaps on U.S.
citizens and others in the country after 9/11 without getting a warrant. A month
later, the Bush administration wanted the search engine Google to turn over
material from its database (Manners 2006).
Our government has started to keep tabs on everyone, saying its for our protection. If we
disagree with their protocol, issues like 9/11 are brought up to provoke fear and force citizens to
settle with the governments plan claiming its for our best interest to let them invade our
privacy. We see the same elements in the Vendetta film as well. During the daily dooms-day
network programming sponsored by the chancellor, American life is shown as a chaotic,
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apocalyptic like atmosphere that London wants to avoid becoming. This new American lifestyle
is due to the civil war that apparently breaks out across the nation after we enter the Iraq war.
Citizens fight for their lives on a daily basis, leaving the nation in a state of emergency. The
chancellors news programming highlights how America has deteriorated without the
organization and guidance that England has in its government leaders. He uses Americas fate as
an example of what could happen if England did not have cameras in every building and police
roaming the streets to ensure the peoples safety. The chancellor threatens those who question his
tactics with treason and plotting against the government in order to keep citizens in check. Jacob
Appelbaum mentions how the fear of violence can be such a strong weapon in our governments
arsenal. In chapter 7 of Cypherpunks, Appelbaum tells readers how the force of nearly all
modern authority is powered by violence or its threat. This constant threat has even changed the
governments title for the people they receive data about.
Andy Muller-Maguhn, co-author of Cypherpunks, explains how our government does not
call these people subscribers or users. They refer to them as targets. Unfortunately, they are not
just using this collection of data to organize customer targets for big businesses. The government
is highlighting these targets for criminal use as well. In a military sense [they] could also be a
target, or it could be in an intelligence sense target. So it is just a matter of the circumstances in
which the data is being used (Assange, Muller-Maguhn & Zimmerman 2012 p 59). Whichever
way you get targeted by the government, it is unsettling to know that what you look up on
Google might land you under a list of possible suspected criminals. Even the fact that someone
from our government might be listening in on the conversations you are having with your family
and friends can be uncomfortable. Unfortunately, we can never distinguish what personal
information is being made public. Like those in Vendettas 2020 London England, all we can do
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as U.S. citizens is try to be aware that someone may be listening or watching your every move
and take the necessary precautions. A perfect example of being aware falls on the main character
of the film. Only known to the viewers as the name V, his increase in awareness over his
governments tactics causes him to see what nightmares are being hidden behind hushed mouths
and closed doors. We come to find that the chancellor has wiretapped every phone in London
while placing mandatory cameras in each home to find the so-called terrorist V. There may not
be a camera in every home in America today, but search engines like Google have begun to use
their own way of putting cameras on our streets. In attempts to stay ahead of the search engine
pack, Google has begun upgrading its online maps to include a drivers view of streets and
houses. Many citizens have begun to disagree with Googles new feature because they fear that
pictures of their homes and gardens might encourage burglars or gangs to target houses that look
worthy enough to rob. Google allowed these people to opt out and have their houses blurred, but
that only made matters worse. The opt out is visible on Street View-you notice the obfuscated
houses-and burglars may interpret this as a signal that they are especially good targets (Mayer-
Schonberger p. 190). These street view cameras have become our security cameras from the
Vendetta film. Googles idea began as a way to aid travelers in finding their destination and has
developed into a way for our government, or anyone for that matter, to have a close up view of
what goes on around your home and neighborhood. Unfortunately, it is only a matter of time
before Google upgrades these cameras once again; possibly putting them on every street corner
to ensure Google maps, and anyone else who uses the search engine has access to our entire
world.
Those at Google are not the only ones who are trying to collect personal data and keep tabs
on our activities. The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) was exposed in 2013 by Edward
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Snowden for collecting vast amounts of information on citizens in order to find possible
criminals or illegal activity. The NSA was already said to intercept and store 1.7 billion emails,
phone calls, and other communications every day (Mayer-Schonberger p. 193). A staggering
number at first glance, but in order for the NSA to find the most information on someone they
are researching, they need to know who they are talking to and who those people are talking to as
well. This process is a vicious circle that involves collecting data on nearly everyone youve ever
glanced at or said hello to. And big data collection by the NSA is just the beginning. With all of
this information, our government is able to point out suspicious behavior and focus their
attention on those subjects, even if their assumptions are wrong. Whether or not you are actually
planning or plotting crimes, you are marked as a possible suspect for talking to certain people or
being seen in specific areas. This aspect of big data collection is a direct violation to our own
free will. If we know that any action we take is recorded and judged, we lose an essential part of
what makes us human; our ability to choose the actions we take. Much like the lifestyle of
London, England in 2020, our sense of free would be stripped away with the fear of our
government leaving us powerless. Londons citizens never question to act against their
government leaders because they do not want to become targets themselves. We see the same
thought process beginning in America. If we step out of line and question what goes on behind
the curtain of our government, we are seen as acting suspicious and become targets as well.
2020 London England in V for Vendetta and the future for the U.S. government will
forever be just a wild comparison in some peoples eyes and a prediction for the future in others.
As time goes on and the actions of our leaders continues the way they have in the past, this
Vendetta lifestyle may not seem as abstract as before. Assange and others have continually
shown the nation that our government is working behind our backs to collect information that is
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personal and vital to our way of life. This information can range from our name and physical
statistics to our social security and bank account numbers.
Fortunately, for U.S. citizens, we have overcome Vendettas prediction of civil war after we
enter the Iraq war in 2002 leaving a glimmer of hope for our existence. We have yet to see our
government leaders begin placing undesirables in concentration camps and create diseases to
control the population of our country as well. The relationship between the U.S. government and
its people has had some rough patches in the past, which has led us to where we are now. The
Bush administrations wiretapping and demand of Googles data in 2006, along with the
realization that cameras were being placed on our streets with Googles Car view has created
some tension between the two sides. Overall, we have yet to have an outburst of angry citizens
storm the white house lawn demanding their freedoms be enhanced like the conclusion of V for
Vendetta. As time continues however, that type of response might become a reality. If our
government continues to spy on its citizens and record their personal information for their own
defense strategies, decreasing the amount of privacy we have overall, it will not be long before
citizens have had enough and begin to fight for change. This is the setting for V for Vendetta
when we first see how 2020 London England has been corrupted by government violence.
Hopefully, the U.S. will never fall to this type of lifestyle and will remain a stable country that
provides its citizens the rights and freedoms our founding fathers had created. If not, the U.S.
may begin to see masked vigilantes like V begin to take a stand when no one else will.



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References
Assange, J., Muller-Maguhn, A., Zimmerman, J. Cypherpunks: Freedom and the
Future of the Internet. 2012. OR Books, New York and London

Cornell University Law School. First Amendment; An Overview. Retrieved from
http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/first_amendment

Graham, T. (2006, March 21). CNN Headline News Strenuously Ties V for
Vendetta Dictator to President Bush. Retrieved from
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2006/03/21/cnn-headline-news-
strenuously-ties-v-vendetta-dictator-president-bush

International Movie Database. Retrieved from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434409/

Kiwan, A. Davis, L. (Oct 13, 2013). Julian Assange: Surveillance Apparatus a
Threat to U.S. Democracy. ABC News. Retrieved from
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/10/julian-assange-surveillance-
apparatus-a-threat-to-u-s-democracy/

Manners, D. (April 19 2006). V for Vendetta has relevance to current United
States policy. The Quinnipiac Chronicle. Retrieved from
http://www.quchronicle.com/2006/04/v-for-vendetta-has-relevance-to-current-
united-states-policy/

Mayer-Schonberger, V, Cukier, K. (2013). Big Data; A Revolution That Will
Transform How We Live, Work, and Think. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publishing. New York, New York.

WikiLeaks.org. (2012). Profile of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. February
29, 2012. Retrieved March 9, 2014 from the Wiki:
https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/16/1630947_re-profile-of-wikileaks-founder-
julian-assange-.html