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The Week · 58:48

How The Conversation Predicted Our Surveillance Society 50 Years Ago

JUNE 8, 2026

Perhaps no film captures the paranoia and anxiety of the 1970s better than The Conversation, Francis Ford Copolla's masterpiece about reclusive surveillance expert Harry Caul, a man who it's safe to say has some demons. Decades before we all agreed to carry tracking and recording devices in our pockets, The Conversation shows us just how invasive and damaging technology can be.

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