Any serious discussion on modern privacy and surveillance is subject to the unnamed but universal law that George Orwell’s novel 1984 must be referenced in some way at some point. In his new book published in September 2020, titled Life After Privacy, Firmin DeBrabander largely avoids this, mentioning Orwell’s work just once, and only briefly. DeBrabander’s purpose is to first debunk the notion that privacy can protect democracy – or that privacy can even exist – and to then pose the question, “if not with privacy, how else can we protect democracy?”.