1984 Book and Big Brother

In today’s current society, I truly believe that we are already living a life of Big Brother. We have so many advanced technologies which means they are capable of watching our every move if they even wanted to. There are cameras everywhere we go, and even your phone has a camera. The reality is that Big Brother or the government can use that to you through the front camera and the back. The scary thing is that they can see your every move on the phone, and also on laptops and computers. Do you ever notice how they know your interest and ads that are similar to what you’re interested in pop up? They are probably watching you.

Our phones has many pros and cons . According to the article, “Four U.S. senators seek details on unusual cellular surveillance in D.C. area”, Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel stated, “the surveillance tools (DHS) can make your phones into tracking devices by impersonating cell towers and some may even have the ability to record your calls.” Our phones has so many disadvantages and the government can use it against us. According to an article in in 2013 called, “The People’s panopticon”, google has stated that they are creating some kind of wearable camera that has a glass that is meant to break down the difference between looking at the screen and looking at the world. Google has also said that, when switched on, the microphone will perceive what you hear, allowing the camera to fully interact with you by talking to you like siri. This invention that google is trying to release is reminding me about the telescreen from Big Brother. This camera allows to watch you and interact with your surroundings and it also has microphones so it will basically hear what you want it to hear. According to the 1984 book, telescreens were tv’s that allowed Big Brother to watch you. This kind of technology that google is inventing is kinda reminding me of a telescreen.

So what if I told you that everytime you search something on any search engine, it is saved and the search engine knows that you searched it up. According to nytimes.com, it states that every time you uses any search engine, the data will be stored and logged. This stored and logged information can be seen by the government or Big Brother. This shows that we have no privacy in this current society just like the book 1984 by George Orwell. The book 1984, doesn’t even allow you to have thoughts in your head. And I feel like the government having access to our searches is invading and restricting our thoughts. They want to try to know what we are thinking about. Also in the book, you can’t even write in your own diary because the thought police will catch you just like Winston’s case. They will eventually brainwash you and use the doublethink.

Sometimes I wonder if we have any freedom in this society. There are cameras on every places you go to and even your own personal devices. Every word you type in these devices will eventually be seen by the government or Big Brother. According to cnet.com, it talks about how the CIA has the power to break into all of your personal devices. It also talks about how the apps you download onto your phone has access to your personal information from microphone, photos, and contacts. I personally think that many companies are hiding something from us that they don’t want us to know. When Companies like Samsung released the new smart tv, it warned many customers not to discuss personal information near the television. According to ABC.net.au, Samsung has stated, “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of voice recognition.” These are my reasons of why I wonder if we have any freedom in this society just like there is no freedom in the world of Big Brother.

So, how do we prevent Big Brother or the government from watching us? The first step is to definitely know what your personal device are capable of doing. Check if it has any microphone, camera, etc. You can use tape on the camera or turning some setting off on your devices. Another helpful way to to prevent them from watching us is turning off the location and services setting when you are out somewhere, this way they won’t track where you are at. When using the internet, never give away any private information, unless it is a trusted and reliable source. When we download an app, press decline if they ever ask you to let them access your microphone, camera, or contacts. We must protect our identity at all times and we have the right to have any privacy just like how the fourth amendment states.

Overall, I truly believe that we are all already living in Big Brother’s society. The inventions that companies like Google, and Apple are making is slowly turning into like the society of Big Brother. They are making camera having access to our social lives, they can track our location using cell phones. The government can definitely enter our lives if they wanted to and the scary thing is that we might not even know about it. All what we want is privacy and I feel like the government isn’t giving us any private spaces just like the dystopian society of 1984.

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