1984 Safety Over Privacy

Today’s society is predicted as living in a world George Orwell envisioned in 1984. The system Orwell invented is compared to what the United States government is capable of doing. Government control of society is an essential subject due to the current mind set of the world today. In 1984, George Orwell represents how Big Brother is compared to today’s government, showing the consequences and dangers of a government with unlimited surveillance power.

One of the most important concepts that many individuals in modern day society value the most is the idea that they have the freedom to do whatever they please. The term freedom means “being able to act, think, and speak in any way one wants to without any type of hindrance,”(Dictionary.com). In the book, 1984, by George Orwell, the totalitarian society ruled by Big Brother, in many ways, controls its citizens by hindering any types of freedom a member of the society might have. In a society that is decorated with telescreens, hidden microphones, and strict rules, Orwell illustrates the many ways Big Brother uses that to its advantage to stifle the freedom of its citizens. However, under all the scrutiny of Big Brother, there are

3. What kind of invasion of privacy exist in Oceania? The two-way telescreen, the Police Patrol swooping down in helicopters to peer in people’s windows, the constant fear of being targeted as an enemy by the Thought Police, the posters of Big Brother with reminders the “Big Brother is Watching You.”

1984, a novel by George Orwell, represents a dystopian society in which the people of Oceania are surveilled by the government almost all the time and have no freedoms. Today, citizens of the United States and other countries are watched in a similar way. Though different technological and personal ways of keeping watch on society than 1984, today’s government is also able to monitor most aspects of the people’s life. 1984 might be a dystopian society, but today’s condition seems to be moving towards that controlling state, where the citizens are surveilled by the government at all times.

George Orwell’s novel 1984 reflects on the society of dystopian city Airstrip 1 where main character Winston Smith lives. Along with the many other citizens, Winston is controlled by the Inner Party by constantly being monitored via telescreens that keep sight of everybody and their actions. Besides using telescreens the government also easily arrests people in any case of “thoughtcrime” which consists of any thoughts that regard disobedience towards the government. Thoughtcrime and telescreens are two of the several factors that reflect the extreme surveillance in 1984. Orwell uses surveillance as the central theme of the novel to spread his idea that the usage of more extreme surveillance could eventually lead to a totalitarian society. On a less extreme scale, today’s society also has a significant amount of surveillance but many question whether or not more surveillance is necessary. With the many current text sources, it is certain that we need less surveillance in order to keep a stable society that does not take away the individualism of people.

“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves”(Reagan). In the book, 1984, Winston recognizes the power the government has over the citizens of Oceania. The citizens lack privacy from the government. George Orwell warns society about a government with total control in 1984. Based on Dana Hawkin’s article, “Cheap Video Cameras Are Monitoring Our Every Move”, as well as Beech Etal’s, “The Other Side of the Great Firewall”, society may truly have something to fear in the form of surveillance and information manipulation.

Surveillance is not a new thing. In fact, espionage, tracking, and sleuthing were part of society ever since 5000 B.C. But in the rise of the modern era, the idea of surveillance in the public eye serves as a controversial topic of discussion. People everywhere complain about the existence of security cameras, government tracking, and the right to privacy. Such problems, however, are not due to the sudden discovery of surveillance, but the modern abuse of it. Seeing the disastrous effects of over surveillance from George Orwell’s 1984, the public rightfully fears societal deterioration through modern surveillance abuse portrayed in Matthew Hutson’s “Even Bugs Will Be Bugged” and the effects of such in Jennifer Golbeck’s “All Eyes On You”. The abuse of surveillance induces the fear of discovery through the invasion of privacy, and ensures the omnipresence of one’s past that haunt future endeavors, to ultimately obstruct human development and the progress of society overall.

George Orwell's fantasy novel “1984” predicts the future in terms “Big Brother” is watching you!” His book, “1984”, was considered a visionary and futuristic novel that presents itself in an imminent society. Many people believe that a society like the one in 1984 is authentically impossible. However, the world has transformed over the years and become more controlled by the regime which is precisely what was transpiring in the book. With big brother overlooking us, and vast advertisements all over our technology that has influenced our society, and the crazy surveillance technology that is implemented into our everyday lives, a society like 1984 is not far from impossible. Our present world is commencing to become 1984 by our world control, mass surveillance, and propaganda

Many Americans do not realize that at any time of the day the government could be observing their “private” lives. On the other hand, some individuals have predicted the government would develop a form of constant surveillance, like George Orwell who forecasted a futuristic government, which used technology as a relentless eye on the members of the society in the novel 1984. 1984 was correct, to an extent, in predicting that the government would increase their usage of technology to constantly observe their people, whether in public or their private homes.

Orwell portrayed privacy in 1984 by using “telescreens and thought police,” as forms of surveillance over the population. Surveillance was a strategy used to enforce Oceana’s laws against thought crimes, so that the Party would always be one-step ahead of the people. Today Americans have a similar form of systematic monitoring through technology, which in contrast to Oceana; have increased the standard of living. The government invades America’s privacy right under its nose, through digital entry points that are used as accommodations to American lives. Privacy will result in the loss of freedom, because the people no longer decide what information about their lives are revealed.

1984 has come to life in many cases for the United States. One of the big issues is the public’s privacy in the US, or lack of it in better words. The government spies in on its people in more ways than one, and it’s not just one country now. It seems that all over the world citizens are losing freedom in ways they never thought possible. A quote from 1984, “War is Peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”(Orwell 4), shows how the government in 1984 wanted people to accept slavery as a part of life, even if that meant spying in on the citizens every waking moment of their lives. In a world where the government turns children against their parents, telescreens monitoring people's lives at home, and thought police

Don’t we all love our privacy? (go on about how we get to do things discreetly and how ppl in the book don’t have that) Privacy plays a main role in 1984 because of how there are telescreens and cameras everywhere giving the people of Oceania a false sense of peace and security.

The book 1984 depicts a society unimaginable to most; however, a further look shows us that we actually do live in an Orwellian society. Orwell describes a country called Oceania made of multiple continents which is ruled by the dictatorial “Big Brother” who uses different systems like the “thought police” and “telescreens” in order to have full control over the country. Our democratic government, through organizations such as the NSA and NGI, can look through our most private conversations and moments using spyware. Due to the secrecy of the government, citizens in 1984, as well as those in our society, fear the government.

Big Brother is watching (Orwell). The truth is that anyone reading this paper from the internet has the right to know that someone thousands of miles away could very well be watching (Orwell). On top of this shocking fact, a victim would never even know they were being watched. George Orwell knew what he was talking about when he wrote of a society in which all things are monitored by the government and an individual's right to privacy is breached for the sake of peace and safety. Some might even say America is such a society today. The citizens in the USA believe that their government is doing all in its power to protect them, but when do national security measures such as spying and monitoring become

In today’s world, privacy is a massive topic of debate and worry specifically with the ease of access that the world wide web delivers in addition to the security that can be breached whether it be through a personal computer or mobile device. Topics of security and privacy range from trusting an e-commerce site with your credit card information, text messages and phone calls being secure, thieves stealing credit information, Facebook messages being shared, and if those worries are not enough what about our “Big Brother” the Government? The Government has become notorious for intruding on personal privacy, particularly with the recent foreign and domestic threats that the United States faces and has faced since the tragic events of September