1984 George Orwell Privacy Analysis

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.

“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.

In the novel 1984, George Orwell uses imagery and word choice to demonstrate how much people value their privacy. This is proven when the citizens learn that the Police Patrol and the government are spying on them in their homes without them knowing. George Orwell states that he knows there is someone snooping in his windows all the time. Night or day, it does not matter. He knows for a fact they are watching his every move. This goes to show that the Police Patrol and government have no boundaries and do not respect their citizens privacy in any way. They are trying to catch them doing anything they are not supposed to be doing. Everybody should feel safe when they are in their home. No one wants to always feel like someone is constantly

The lack of privacy, in both “1984” and present society is detrimental, and has the ability to completely control and intimidate an entire community; therefore preventing society to move forward and progress. In 1984, Orwell is able to establish a lack of security. There are insecurities and worries behind every corner because, “Big Brother is watching you,” and it’s uncontrollable. In Winston’s case, thoughtcrime is a reoccurring theme in his life; and with the lack of privacy in his world, he knows that “thoughtcrime does not entail death, thoughtcrime is death”. Unfortunately, with the everyday struggle that is faced by the people of Oceania, privacy is not, and has never been granted and never will be.

Privacy is commonly defined as the act of being free from any form of surveillance or refers to a state of being in isolation, or a private place free from all unauthorized, or unlawful disturbance from others. In today’s ever-advancing society, it seems that this definition will soon need to be revised. Orwell in 1984 had conceived a society where personal privacy and space is never permitted. Every person under the party’s control is to be observed 24 hours, even by their own family members and friends. Privacy is a necessity for all humans, we mistakenly give other people too much power, as we continue to accept all types of new technology along with our growing need for stronger security. We are soon to find ourselves in

Our technology is way more advanced than the technology described in the novel 1984 which isn’t necessarily a good thing. We have cameras everywhere including on the streets and in our pockets. In fact, even new game consoles have cameras and microphones that remain on even when the console itself is off. “It's able to identify individuals based on face and body recognition, works in the dark, records audio and is constantly connected to the Internet and 300,000 Microsoft servers” (Xbox One Features…). That’s just one of the many examples of how we are currently being monitored. Another would be our smart phones. There isn’t much that our phones aren’t capable of doing and that includes tracking where we go, what we buy, and what we do. “ Your phone even automatically labels your assumed home and work addresses based on the amount of time you spend in each location” (Hidden Iphone Feature Tracks…). Our technology may come in slightly different forms than that of Big Brother, but it is still very similar in its purpose, to watch us. The way in which we differ is who and how we use it. For instance, major companies like to purchase the information that has been gathered from our phone in order to provide goods and services that are most relevant to us, the consumer. “Jeff Weber, AT&T Inc.'s president of content and advertising sales, says his company is studying ways to sell and analyze customer data for advertisers…” (Phone Firms Sell Data…). In the world of Big Brother, the government uses this information to determine whether a person is guilty of thoughtcrime or not while our government only uses our information to help prevent terrorism resulting from the terrorist attack on

As mentioned, in Oceania, citizens lack privacy, have little control over their daily lives, and learn only the information that the Party chooses to tell them. In today’s world everything is in front of an individual’s eye because of technology and the power of media. Media is a great source of information and a way to connect in today’s society. On the other hand, media can always work against people and not be a good source at all. In 1984, the party is in full control of the citizens leading to the fact that they have no privacy what so ever. It is mentioned, “And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed – if all records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became truth” (18). The party would control the

A crucial point in what makes Oceania a totalitarian society is their use of surveillance as a means to monitor their people and ensure no one is committing any actions, or even thinking, about anything which opposes the views and interests of the Party. The vast use of surveillance techniques and the invasion of the privacy of Oceania’s citizens is rampant, where one can find telescreens in every home, “[t]he telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; so long as he remained with the field of vision… he could be seen as well as heard” (Orwell 5). The idea that the telescreen never turns off and that it constantly picks up video and sound is very intrusive to the privacy of individuals. Furthermore, the telescreens are also used to look for those who commit thoughtcrimes and think about anything the government opposes. The knowledge of surveillance can be used to instil fear in each person, which would prevent them from free thinking as they would worry that they may think of something which would get them caught. The idea that one’s mind can be read creates a sense of paranoia, which results in one being very restricted and careful with their actions. Furthermore, since

Imagine living in a world where you could not make your own choices, or be your own person. In the novel 1984, this is exactly what happened. In a place called Oceania where there is no such thing as privacy and personal freedom (Roelofs), the main character Winston Smith, is living a strict life under the demanding party known as Big Brother. Winston decides that he wants his life back to normal and tries to rebel against the Party. Meanwhile, he is thought to be a lunatic because he is living his life how a normal person would, but everyone else is now living under what is thought to be a utopia society. Throughout the book Winston strongly disagrees with the fact that every second he is being keep under surveillance. Though at some points he believes he is being discrete, in reality someone is always watching. In 1984, George Orwell depicts the lack of privacy and loss of individualism which affects the characters and the society as a whole.

Similarly, the National Security Agency (NSA) has surveillance programs that were kept secret until Edward Snowden leaked the truth about these programs to the world. The NSA performed warrantless wiretapping, collects metadata by maintaining a call database, and through a program called PRISM they collect internet communications from major US internet companies (Stray, 2013). Also, nearly everywhere we go we will encounter security cameras and traffic cameras; every store we go to is likely to ask us for our cell phone number or zip code; and we carry cell phones with us everywhere we go which usually have a GPS locator, as well the internet and phone capabilities which can be intercepted by NSA. The difference between Oceania and the United States in this matter is that citizens of Oceania were aware that they were constantly being monitored; however, the NSA kept their surveillance programs secret from citizens for years until it was leaked, so the extent to which they monitor each citizen and any new surveillance programs that have been implemented since then are unknown. We have accepted the idea that we are giving up our privacy for a sense of security from terrorism, much like those in Oceania have done in order to prevent rebellion against the Party.

In the book, every action and thought of every citizen of Oceania is being monitored by the telescreens and the thought police. Even in the their homes, they are being monitored by telescreens, and if anyone suspects someone of having thoughts that might provoke the Big Brother’s power, the suspects are mysteriously taken away and leave no tracks behind of their existence in history. Similar to the modern age, much of the privacy of people have been taken away due to improvements to technology and its uses to keep people safe. Unfortunately many of the inventions that were meant to keep safe have upset many people about their invasion of privacy. For example, drones were originally used for military purposes to keep the country safe but recently, there have been complaints of drones spying on people. Another example of invasion of privacy is the use of phones and phone apps. Using location service apps such as a GPS or Find My iPhone can be easy ways to track where somebody is at any given moment. Social media also makes it difficult to keep an individual’s information private because of its allowance of people’s information to be seen by the public. Social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook can be seen by almost anyone on the web when searched, and so, the information on someone’s private life is also able to be seen by anyone on the web.

A world beyond what George Orwell could imagine has been created in modern society through the use of not only government surveillance, but also corporate and consumer spying where users are often unaware of spying.. 1984 is set in a neo-communist society where the government controls production of goods and spies on its citizens in order to maintain power. In the modern era, surveillance takes a different form. Often the methods for spying on citizens in the US do not involve a direct line from the NSA to the citizen’s home, it usually takes a detour through a commercial setting. By partnering with major companies such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon, government surveillance programs are able to collect far more information than could be gained by simply tapping telephone lines. This is more disturbing since many companies including Verizon, AT&T, Apple, and Amazon do not require a warrant to supply information to investigators, and do not notify users of data requests.

People live in a world where technology is becoming a part of people's life as it becoming more advanced and expanding . Today technology surrounds people’s lives, unlike the novel the people didn't have a say in having to be obligated to have a telescreen in their workplace as well as home. “Now they see us” (Orwell 222). The story contradicts how people use technology and the National Security Agency (NSA) is using the technology to spy on people. As 1984 captures real world events as the NSA would, George Orwell captures the real world quite identical as we know we are being spied on through our phone's everyday as in the novel. The people in the cities are being watched by telescreens every where they went. Failing to consider how the proles were not worthy of surveillance, although in our modern world the NSA is watching everyone.

Big Brother spies on the people by using telescreens,patrols and children of the fellow citizens of Oceania.