A time in the future with much advanced technology.  There is no
privacy -- machines watch us almost always.  More important, machines
are present everywhere -- like robots, except linked into one giant
global machine intelligence.  In order to gain freedom from being 
watched you have to pass a test.  If you pass, you are still subject 
to the law and retribution for wrongdoing, but you have a private 
life.  Most people never bother to take the test...