1984 George Orwell Privacy Analysis

Technology and 1984 In society today, there is little to no privacy when it comes to technology. In 1984, by George Orwell, INGSOC uses technology to invade the privacy of its citizens. The government is able to control its citizens by the telescreen, junior police, and even through the way the people think and speak. This drastically compares to governments of today, and how privacy is slowly getting less common because the government is always watching the moves of every citizen. As it says in 1984 “Big Brother is watching you.” This means that there is no privacy. The governments of the world keep tabs on its citizens by using simple and complex technology and it often goes unnoticed by the citizens. 1984 reveals, through INGSOC, what

“Privacy is an important right because it is a necessary condition for other rights such as freedom and personal autonomy. There is thus a relationship between privacy, freedom and human dignity. Respecting a person's privacy is to acknowledge such a person's right to freedom and to recognize that individual as an autonomous human being” (Britz). Arnold Simmel, regards privacy as “part and parcel of the system of values that regulates action in society… to the whole structure of human interactions and values that regulate action in society” (Regan). This means that people who lack privacy are always watching what they do and say. Privacy is something everyone should posses, but privacy is becoming something that is hard to come by. There are many ways a person can hack into a device and use that device to spy on someone. The United States government is no stranger to spying on its citizens. Many law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Marshals and the FBI, have radars that use sound waves that can receive images of people on another side of a wall. This device gives police officers the ability to see into homes, from the street, without the consent of the homeowner or a search warrant. This is invasion of privacy but is looked over because the people who are doing this are in control, and the citizens have no means of stopping this from happening. In the United States constitution, a person is guaranteed the

In Oceania, the government wants total control over the people's lives even including the way they think. In the United States, the government wants to “keep them safe.” What is really happening is that they are invading privacy to root out the evil but are breaking rules to do this. In 1984, a telescreen is everywhere someone looks, and they never turn off. They are constantly berating the people with propaganda, news, and entertainment. The telescreens have the ability to spy on citizens and know what they are doing at all times. This is similar to today and how almost everything a person does online can be traced and recorded. The constant warfare in 1984 is confusing; no one realizes that the enemy keeps changing. The war keeps the people in a constant state of panic which makes the citizens easy to control. Today, many people are in constant fear of terrorism. People have no idea who the enemy is or could be which causes social fear and people wrongfully accusing others of terrorism. Doublethink uses the idea of taking two condtradincting ideas and seeing them as correct. Today this can be seen by activists who support abortion and how they think that by closing abortion clinics they are also affecting other health services that are helpful for women