The Circle By Dave Eggers: A Social Analysis

The world constantly moves toward an extreme. Eventually it reaches it and that extreme becomes a norm. The world of The Circle by Dave Eggers is one such potential norm. Though this norm is more likely than most. The erosion and destruction of anonymity is happening with increased regularity under the edict of both governments and corporations. The consumerism of The Circle can be seen in the constant advertisements that bombard us no matter where we go. But, the worst part is that a majority, if not all, of this is self-imposed. We are on a collision course with The Circle. Both governments and corporations are crusaders against anonymity. The United Kingdom, under the leadership of the Conservative Party, intends on heavily regulating the Internet. Verify, in a manner similar to TruYou, will allow “people [to] identify themselves on all government online services by 2020” (The Conservative And Unionist Party 81). The most worrying portion of the plan for Verify is their intent on rolling out the service “so that people can safely verify their [identity] to access non-government services” (The Conservative And Unionist Party 81). As in The Circle any website that has a majority of users that do not care if the website knows who they are is likely to attempt to adopt this. If that happens anonymity will essentially

All of this was agreed upon in the terms of service. That is the cost of these services. The advertising, facial recognition, Verify were all up to a vote. If it cost no money, for the most part, the decision was to say yes. The downfall of the world of The Circle was the same. SeeChange, Demoxie, and TruYouth were put up to a vote. Each cost information and placed a restriction upon people. After self-imposition comes a less voluntary method. The Circlers had plans to require people to have a Circle account to access basic services, like voting. That has yet to come in this world but it almost certainly