The Importance Of Government Surveillacy

Privacy and safety of citizens is common in today's society, as well as the government looking over their shoulder at all times. As an example, George Orwell wrote a book called, "1984" which in it gave an outlook of society being taken over by a party. Government surveillance is different from protecting and bringing safety to the citizens, it violates their freedom, privacy, and human rights.

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.

The level of surveillance in the US had gradually grown over time and has strong potential to become equal to the amount of surveillance used in 1984. Having the government have further access to our private information could lead to a society similar to that of 1984 where people lose their sense of individual thought and personality. The fear that the government instills in people causes dehumanization. Individuals would want to avoid being punished through any means and listens to only what the government states, getting rid of individuality. Losing sense of individuality will stop growth from occurring through society and media. Having a totalitarian government take away individualism could occur in multiple instances. In ‘“1984” by George Orwell: Individualism: Preventing the Terror of Totalitarianism” by Brandon Johnson explains how Newspeak in 1984 is a factor in decreasing thought. The usage of Newspeak is made to help further reduce communication. Lack of communication would also cease growth in becoming a better society through conversation. Using more surveillance would also force people to lose their sense of reality such as how the citizens or

In the brainwashed society of Oceania in 1984, by George Orwell, led by a totalitarian government in the name of a leader known as Big Brother, citizens are placed under constant surveillance from the government, preventing them from having individuality and freedom of thought. Although written in a fictional setting, the book strikes analogous similarities to the United States in today’s world. Due to a growth in surveillance, personal information and privacy are being intervened, however, not violated. While technological advances are increasing and crimes such as hacking and terrorism are becoming more prominent in society, government surveillance is becoming largely needed to ensure the protection

Greenwald does an exceptional job of diving into the meat and potatoes of the issue, and gets right at its core with an essential question we need to ask ourselves in our growing digital world: “Why does our privacy matter?” In his TED Talk: Why Privacy Matters Greenwald explains how the Internet, which has been hailed for the liberation it brought is now being used as a zone of mass discriminant surveillance (Greenwald, 2014). It seems as though whenever the topic is brought up most ignorant people immediately assume that if the government is watching, it is okay as long as you don’t have anything to hide. With this train of thought comes the idea that there are clear lines between “good” people and “bad” people in this world, and its essentially okay for a computer to determine whether or not someone is good or bad based on a collection of phone records, Google searches and associates on social media. The group of those saying that there is no harm done in the breaching of ones privacy are those who have accepted that they are in no way shape or form a threat to our government in any case. To me, that is something that is simply unacceptable in a functioning democracy. If people are so willing to give up every aspect of their daily lives to the government, it becomes easier to track the exact schedules and routines of certain individuals and on a grand scale, the impending results can be more than scary. Greenwald explains that there has been many studies held that prove that when humans know they are being watched, their behavior dramatically changes compared to if they think they are alone. After someone realizes they are being observed they quickly start conforming to their surroundings because they’ve become imprisoned in their own minds for fear of

Orwell’s vision of the future is not entirely accurate, but it is not completely fiction. There is Big Brother around us, like in 1984. For example, the FBI surveillances phone calls and texts and could easily get into databases, without the permission of the person they are surveillancing. In some ways, we have to sacrifice a part of our privacy to the government. We are being watched, just as the people were being watched by Big Brother. On the other hand, we are given human rights and we do not

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.

To further validate my point, George Orwell wrote a book called 1984, which presents the reader with the concept of “Big Brother”. The book introduces “Big Brother” as a symbol of what government surveillance is like. Orwell, expresses his views on privacy by creating the concept of Big Brother which takes government surveillance to another level; in a negative sense. In the book, Big Brother is able to

Very soon, we may live in a world where the government knows everything about us. In the novel 1984, that’s exactly how life was. In 1949, George Orwell wrote about a man named Winston, who was trying to rebel against a dystopian society, in which the government was manipulating its’ citizen. In the novel, the people were constantly being monitored by the government. Anyone who was caught rebelling against the government was sent to prison, tortured into loving the government and its leader Big Brother, and then was killed. Orwell wrote 1984 as warning to everyone in the future. He believed that our world could easily turn into this. Government monitoring, lying to the public, and influenced conformity are all things that are relevant

Imagine a world where your every move was being monitored. A dark world where it is no secret who you are, where you have been and who you associate with; now include who you love, who you pray to and what you just ate for dinner. The word privacy doesn’t exist in such world and it is such world that we are heading to.“Big Brother is watching you!” This quote by George Orwell couldn’t have been truer. Every aspect of our lives is being sorted through as Big Data this very moment. Government surveillance has prevailed by the name of security. But, is government surveillance of internet digital communications like social networks, cell phone calls, text messages, and emails really a public service of security? Or

In the dystopian novel the Hunger Games Suzanne Collins emphasizes the excessive government control and surveillance, not only in the hunger games, but in contemporary America as well. Ever since the failed rebellion cameras and other methods of surveillance have been placed in Panem to prevent any other rebellions. Katniss is well aware of all the punishments that come after speaking out against the capitol. While Katniss is illegally hunting in the woods, she accidentally blurts out a statement against the capitol, and “then [she] glance[s] quickly over [her] shoulder” because “even [there], in the middle of nowhere, [she worries] someone might overhear [her]” (Collins 6).

Orwell's eerie foresight only continues when Winston notices a Police Patrol helicopter darting from window to window, looking into people's windows. This type of surveillance in clearly illegal today, and would be noticed immediately, but in the last 50 years, satellites and unmanned drone aircraft have taken over the fictional role of the Police Patrols. Public satellites that are 10 to 15 years old currently can produce digital images with 1-meter resolution. Military satellites can supposedly produce images with 10-centimeter resolution, meaning that `Big Brother' could theoretically follow you from your house to your work to a restaurant and home again without you even knowing you were being watched. This type of surveillance is most likely being used mostly overseas, and not on Americans, but its mere existence should be a clear signal to us that our age has not avoided the surveillance pitfalls of 1984.

In 1949, George Orwell published "1984", a story about a dystopian world ruled by a tyrannical government that observes its citizens every move through the use of telescreens: television screens that record everything and spout totalitarian propaganda nonstop. Orwell's book was intended to serve as a warning for the human race of the dangers of allowing the government to grow too powerful, but as we look around today, the resemblance of our world to Orwell's broken society is eerie. Be it the NSA's recent infringements upon the average American citizen's privacy, or the censorship of the press, it is clear that our civil liberties are no longer as sacred as the Bill of Rights guarantees. Thus, we can see that the United States government has

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.

Place yourself in the safety and comfort of your home, under the belief that “everyone has the right to the use and enjoyment of his property” (Department of International Law), searching, emailing, and talking about things that may be frowned upon by others. Now imagine the raw feelings of fear and deception that would wash over you upon seeing Edward Snowden’s statement on how “the U.S. government is destroying privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they 're secretly building.” You may initially feel betrayed, but Obama formally announced that the NSA acts solely in the name of safety right? Have we begun to sacrifice the freedom and