Of Government Surveillance In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

Envision waking up and living in a society that has been completely taken over by an elite group. Not only this, but the citizens are informed that from now on, their every move will be watched twenty-four seven. Whether it be in your own room, walking around outside, or even on your cellular devices, they are always watching. In Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, Winston Smith, the protagonist, finds himself in this exact situation. While being constantly watched by the government, also known as the Inner Party, it begins to infuriate him, causing him to rebel. Winston is constantly being watched by tele-screens, where the government can watch his every move, and control his inner thoughts. The government having the ability to spy on

Many governments have been buying private-sector databases that are able to intercept online data and see peoples’ communications. This is a serious problem because if the government continues to do this privately, people can not do anything about it, having no proof to stop it. Although there are laws that protect citizens from government surveillance, these laws are very vague and can not be put into action when no one knows that it is occurring. Philip Bump writes in How Much Do We Pay the NSA to Spy on the US states, “ The NSA probably costs tens or hundreds of millions of dollars a month.” (Bump “The Atlantic”) People across the country are paying money for a program that is costing much more than expected. Not only this, but citizens are unaware of everything going on within this program, which puts the people at a disadvantage. The money spent on the NSA could be spent on more beneficial, needed things in the

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Winston lives in the nation Oceania. The government not only watches its citizens every action, but knows what they are thinking at all times. Some may find this beneficial in a society so that there are no rebellions, or outsiders. However, a society based around a totalitarian government becomes very harmful. This means that the citizens rights to democracy are taken away. No one wants to live a life where they have no say in how it works out. Everyone enjoys having the right to freedom, and when the government tries to control and spy on the people, a problem will occur. A society based upon total government surveillance will never be successful. There will always be a group of people who will rebel, and the only way to stop the ideas of rebellion within them would be to kill that group. Mentioned earlier, the same thing happened to Winston, having a sense of rebellion. Unfortunately it did not work out for him, but he later mentioned that there was hope for the future, and maybe one day the proletariats would realize all that was wrong in their