Is It 1984 Yet?

People in general are still dismissive of the dangers of mass surveillance: as you mention the words Big Brother and 1984, most argue that such a dystopia cannot happen where they live. Let’s take a closer look at whether it’s 1984 yet.

We know now that spy agencies of so many governments want to see every single letter we type, every thought we form, and every image we transmit on the net that we are practically surveilled 24-by-7. Still, a lot of people dismiss this as being nowhere near a 1984-type scenario.

There were even news of the NSA and the GCHQ watching people’s webcams right into people’s homes, and in about 10% of cases (according to GCHQ), watching people in their home in the nude. We also know that people’s conversations and activities online are being constantly monitored, and more importantly, recorded.

There is, of course, no way of knowing whether you are being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the government plugs in on any individual wire is guesswork. It is even conceivable that they watch everybody all the time. But at any rate, they can plug in to your wire whenever they want to.

Does this make you feel safer? Are we at 1984 yet? Most people would still say “no”.

There’s only one catch with that. Noticed the paragraph in bold above? That’s a direct quote from the book 1984. The only difference is that the tense has been changed to present, and “thought police” replaced with “government”. The paragraph continues:

You have to live – did live, from habit that became instinct – in the assumption that every sound you make is overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.

Still true. If you wave a webcamera or a mobile phone, we know that this is now true.

What would you do if you were living in 1984? Has the thought crossed your mind? If you haven’t thought about this yet, the hour is very late to do so – we are now able to quote from the book’s overall setting to describe recent developments.

Your privacy remains your own responsibility.