Big Brother - 1984

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to ask all of your oppinions on "Big Brother" and the increasing use of surveillance technologies in today's modern society. Is it possible that eventually we could end up living in a 1984 society as foretold by Geroge Orwell?

Personally, I'm a little bit uneasy about the mounting levels of surveillance in place today. Don't get me wrong, I applaud CCTV and for the number of crimes it helps to reduce/solve, however I get the feeling that this technology, like any other, has the potential to be abused.

More specifically I worry over the Echelon system run by GCHQ/NSA, I worry about who has access to my personal information and who is watching my web browsing habbits.

I haven't done anything wrong so you could say I have nothing to fear, well to be completely honest with you I'm not exactly sure why I feel so uneasy about the whole situation, just something doesn't feel right in my oppinion.

Maybe in the future the technologies designed to protect us and keep us safe could be used to watch us and keep us imprisoned???

What are your thoughts?? Do you welcome the increasing levels of surveillance, CCTV, ID cards or are do you feel as uneasy as I do?

I think it's getting too much, ive heard there is 4 million camera's in london alone. If that statement is true that's insane, And there seems to be alot more creeping onto the road's in the UK.

A housing estate up the road from me has them on the end of every street, I dont mind em watching me in town, but to follow me to the door is going too far.

Edited to add this article
How Big Brother watches your every move

[edit on 31-8-2008 by slylee]

reply to post by Death_Kron

I don't welcome them.

I find 1984's accuracies about politics more scary than its depictions of how technology threatens our privacy. The government will do anything to keep the people from waking up from their mindwashed state.

Unfortunately the statistics show that the cameras don't deterr the crime. I'm afraid you'll have to find those crimestats yourself, I saw them a while back and don't recall where.

I think what is making you uneasy is that the cameras + face recognition tech makes it able to track you where ever you go.

Now if say, evil rose to power like in Nazi Germany, and the people wanted to rise up against said evil, the govt has this wealth of tech to stop any kind of usurping. The thing that makes you nervous is that it makes you more vulnerable to being abused and you won't be able to do anything about it.

The powers that be use crime and terrorism as an excuse to take away peoples privacy, claiming that its for the good of the people. But what the founding fathers of America understood was that privacy as well as civil rights are absolutely necessary to stop the government from becoming corrupt.


Ultimately privacy is so important that- even if you don't do anything wrong what's happening in your country is tragic.

Fight for your freedom. Fight for your rights. Fight for your privacy. And don't listen to what anybody says, you are entitled to them!

[edit on 8/31/2008 by Good Wolf]

reply to post by slylee


Thanks for the link, yes I agree it definately is getting too much, kinda of overkill if you get me. I understand that CCTV and surveillance is a tool to prevent crime but as with any other technology it has the potential to be abused and thats probably what I fear.

I don't like the fact thats theres proabably people out there in certain agencies or organisations that know more about me than my partner does but they've never met me! Anonymity is a thing of the past!

Originally posted by Frankidealist35
reply to post by Death_Kron

 

I don't welcome them.

I find 1984's accuracies about politics more scary than its depictions of how technology threatens our privacy. The government will do anything to keep the people from waking up from their mindwashed state.

Again, I agree. I think the storyline portrayed in 1984 could one day very much become a reality. The politics involved in the story are what draw the authorities to utilise the levels of surveillance described, its a scary thought.

I don't want to be controlled by the state, and I don't want to be monitored by them either.

It's a sad fact that the majority of the population are in fact in this "brain washed state" and they will probably never wake up from it, you try to inform and educate them and they say its you who is brainwashed!

I don't think you can win really, its a lose lose situation for the people that are truly switched on but these are the people who will benefit when the SHTF!

Originally posted by Good Wolf
Unfortunately the statistics show that the cameras don't deterr the crime. I'm afraid you'll have to find those crimestats yourself, I saw them a while back and don't recall where.

I think what is making you uneasy is that the cameras + face recognition tech makes it able to track you where ever you go.

Now if say, evil rose to power like in Nazi Germany, and the people wanted to rise up against said evil, the govt has this wealth of tech to stop any kind of usurping. The thing that makes you nervous is that it makes you more vulnerable to being abused and you won't be able to do anything about it.

The powers that be use crime and terrorism as an excuse to take away peoples privacy, claiming that its for the good of the people. But what the founding fathers of America understood was that privacy as well as civil rights are absolutely necessary to stop the government from becoming corrupt.


Ultimately privacy is so important that- even if you don't do anything wrong what's happening in your country is tragic.

Fight for your freedom. Fight for your rights. Fight for your privacy. And don't listen to what anybody says, you are entitled to them!

[edit on 8/31/2008 by Good Wolf]

Another great reply, CCTV or surveillance doesnt deter crime in my oppinion and yes I do feel vunerable that the technology that should be protecting me could be used against me!

Watch "Enemy of The State" starring Will Smith, perfect example of how technology can be used against us, lots of people on here believe the media portrays the future, well that film is a prime example.

On a side note, 95% of the technology mentioned in that film is actually true, it even mentions the NSA supercomputer facility underneath Fort Meade.

When the government have satellites that can read a newspaper in your hand from 300 miles above the earths surface things get a little scary.

I haven't seen the movie but am going to rent in out next time I get the chance.

I had a discussion about movies and literature that portrays government as corrupt a while back with a friend of mine.

We came to the conclusion that if people become insecure about the gov't. and voicing themselves, especially if they have evidence, people counter them by calling it 'fiction'.

Like 'V for Vendetta' people call conspiracy theories, no mater how evidently true' the thing of fiction.

One of Ales Jones' subordinates was talking about how elements of concepts in a lot of political fiction were coming from the government. Sounds ridiculous, I know but consider this:

In 2001, the first Ghost Recon game was released by Ubisoft. From wikipedia:

During the first few missions of the game, the Ghosts battle Georgian rebels who are harassing the legitimate government and its allies. The Ghosts fight in the forests, on farms, and in villages while assisting their NATO allies in fighting the enemy. The Russian government complains to the United Nations that the Americans have interfered in their affairs, and eventually they send in their army to aid the rebels. The U.S. cannot hope to stop the Russian Army from invading Georgia, so the Ghosts slow down the invading forces so that their allies can evacuate. Eventually, the Ghosts are all that's left of the U.S. forces in Georgia, and they evacuate by SH-60 Seahawk helicopter on the rooftop of the American Embassy in T'bilisi, just barely avoiding the Russian forces. The Georgian government flees to Geneva and sets up a government-in-exile. With the fall of T'bilisi, Georgia surrenders and is forcefully incorporated into the RDU.

After Georgia falls, the Caucasus region is vulnerable to further attack. The Georgian government, Great Britain, Germany, and the U.S. all protest the Russian invasion, but Moscow ignores them.

It mirrors the media's spin of the Georgian War over the last month.


It seems to me that the elite will be able to make sheeple believe fiction is reality and vica-versa.

[edit on 9/9/2008 by Good Wolf]