 Computer company Microsoft patented in 2011 a product distribution system with a camera or capture device that monitors the viewers that consume the product, allowing the provider to take "remedial action" if the actual viewers do not match the distribution license.The system has been compared with "1984" telescreen surveillance system.A series of laws intended to implement the European Union Data Retention Directive in Romania were nicknamed "the Big Brother laws" by Romanian media and critics as they would have led to blanket storage of citizens' telecommunications data for six months.