Technology In 1984

In the world of Big Brother, technology was ahead of its time allowing the government to control, manipulate, and strike fear into the citizens of Oceania. Our world could collide with 1984’s dystopian society due to the evolution of our own technology such as surveillance and social media. In contrast, Big Brother is not quite real in our world because of the foundation in our government which is embedded with numerous laws and rights inspiring our freedom. Orwell’s prediction of 1984 was a colossal warning for many generations to come, considering the constant fight against the government’s dominance and control. If the trend of an all powerful technology based society continues our government has the potential of becoming the fearful fiction

Evidence stated by Lloyd, “Long Beach COP combines law enforcement data with real-time video feeds from the aforementioned locations as well police department helicopters” ( Lloyd, 2012). This is significant because it shows the upper hand advantage the law enforcement has on ordinary persons lives. The chief of this department states that surveillance city-wide will improve safety in neighborhoods and provide fellow officers with the tools they need to stop crime. The justification of invasion to our constitutional right to privacy is also seen in 1984 with telescreens. Telescreens were used by thought police and the party in order to prevent the hideous thoughts and crimes towards the party. Continuing with more evidence that our society is closer to big brother, “Orwell’s time as a policeman serving in Burma showed him how governments seek to keep track of people and what they’re up to… ‘what he saw was that over time, surveillance would become pervasive,’ shelden says… Orwell’s ideas struck some as paranoid… it turned out the spy agency MI5 had tracked him from 1929 until his death in 1950” (GREENBLATT, 2013). This goes to show that anybody can be tracked for any amount of time without knowing just like 1984 shows when stating, “ … ‘Don’t worry, Winston; you are in my keeping. For seven years I have watched over you…’” (Orwell, pg.

As 1984 states, “The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it… within the field of vision… he could be seen as well as heard.there was… no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment”(Orwell, pg. 3). This quote describes the capabilities and limitations that Big Brother has over the citizens of Oceania to observe and enforce oppression and hatred towards enemies. In comparison to our own monitoring it is not as extensive as Big Brother’s surveillance. According to BBC NEWS, “... NSA tapped directly into the servers of nine internet firms, including Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, to track online communication in a surveillance programme known as Prism” (Unknown, 2014). PRISM stands for Planning Tool for Resource Integration, Synchronization, and Management which is a data tool designed to collect and process foreign intelligence that passes through American servers used by the National Service Association. PRISM’s only limitation is not to be used on US citizens, only outside