In the book 1984 by George Orwell, a place where all people who are apart or live in Oceania are surveilled by the administration at every moment and hold absolutely zero freedom. In today’s times, citizens of the United States and other nations are both similar but in different ways. Different technology has their individual ways with watching their country than 1984, with today’s government they are able to watch most aspects of people’s lives. 1984 might be a dystopian society, but today’s status seems to be pushing upfront with a controlling state, in which all citizens will be surveilled by their governments at every single moment.
The 1984 society provided many ways to surveil its citizens, one reasoning being that the thought police are undercover operatives who hide among everyday citizens and could be found at any given time, or place, to monitor people for crimes in tough with the party. There were problems with this because “A few among of the Thought police moved always among them, spreading false rumors and marking down and eliminating the few individuals who were judge capable of being dangerous” (Orwell 62). However, individuals of Oceania had known that the police were always around but would. Never know which certain individuals were actually one of them. This caused them to be suspicious of everyone, focusing on not committing any violations. Although no every single citizen can be watched at every moment, they never know exactly when they are being watched either. Causing most of them to always obey rules, everyone knows “big brother is watching you” (Orwell 7).
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Our nation as well uses technological surveillance on its citizens through the internet, cameras, and other electronic devices. Though there are consequences of citizen’s actions through technology today are not as strict, people do not take the government's surveillance as seriously This is true, but the real question is if the freedom of privacy ratio, as s free country, is still undecided. Surveillance is now even more accessible is due to google class. “Maybe you like being on camera, maybe you don’t. but either way, the assumption nowadays is that you know you’re on camera…. With good glass, nobody’s pointing a camera, camcorder, or phone. You no longer know if you’re being filmed by your conversation partner. An unspoken social rule is being violated” (Pogue). With this, the government has access to see from the point of view of anyone. People you meet in your daily life could have quick access to anything that has a record on your technology device, It is very easy to have your words and actions documented and or recorded without your knowledge. The information can be spread all around without your knowledge.
The police have been known for placing undercover police officers in criminal organizations, but now, they have taken it to the furthest they have gone as they watch all sectors of life. Even if there are no cameras, you could still watch by officers and informants pointing out suspicious activity, keeping us safe, but all while removing our liberties. Surveillance in 1948 and that of the U.S. are similar, but different methods and less harsh nowadays. Telescreens are primarily a discouragement meant for citizens because of the fact that they know they are being watched but with modern cameras such as streetlights and buildings, they don’t have the same existence. Although they both don’t have the same existence as the citizens in each society, they are both there for the same reason. Spies from 1984 are very similar to modern undercover police. Both of them hide in open sight and monitor citizens. There is a change though in 1984 everyone that has known the police was there for a reason and kept watch on them all the time. There are some restrictions on modern wiretapping the government does it more liberally than we are more aware of and this is very similar to 1984’s government how they can listen to whatever conversation they want to. It is both modern and 1984’s society is anyone’s conversation is never private. “There was, of course, no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often or no what system, the thought police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork” (Orwell 8). Even though the Though police could not see the people, the people are always being heard and monitored in every way.
America's modern surveillance is more moderate and not as extreme as 1984, but as technology advances, we are on a similar trend where there really is no privacy. This is a free country and if this continues there is a possibility that we won’t be this way forever. If we all want to keep our freedom we must make ourselves aware and take a stand for our rights. We as a country and nation are willing to sacrifice our freedom just because we are no aware of our surroundings and afraid to take a stand. If we all continue this we could end up with similar freedom and privacy as all the citizens from 1984 had.
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