One Nation Under CCTV

In 1984, Big Brother is the main so-called “government” in Oceania. Winston describes a life of desolate, dull existence where no one has any rights to freedom of speech, or even thoughts.  There are televisions referred to as “telescreens” that can never be turned off. People are always being watched. In a way big brother already does exist in today’s world. There are always news stories about companies and the government possibly caught for listening in to civilian’s private conversations. In England, an artist by the name of Banksy, spray-painted a painting mocking CCTV, a monitoring system in England meant for security. Banksy went completely unnoticed while spray-painting his artwork on the side of a building under surveillance. He definitely proves that CCTV may not exactly be used for security like it’s claimed to be. I tend to link the advancement of technology with our loss of privacy. The more gadgets we use, the more of an open opportunity we are leaving for people to have a front row view into our private lives. It’s rumored that our telephone calls can be screened and listened to.  And I’m sure that our use of the Internet and business on our computers can be monitored as well. Is this bad? Well, it can be but there are reasons as to why they might feel the need to “monitor” the people of America. If we let it get to a ridiculous amount of monitoring, will we end up living in an Oceania of our own?