Big Brother is Watching

In high school, we were required to read a book entitled ‘1984’ by George Orwell which explained how life would be having everyone under complete surveillance by the authorities. Ever since reading this book, I have been skeptical about the entire ‘big brother’ propaganda. As our technology in today’s world continues to become bigger and better, we have to sit and wonder if it will ultimately lead to ‘big brother’ watching our every move.

Various information about us is being collected and stored, sometimes even sold to marketing companies and most of the time we have no idea. Our activities are being tracked and recorded, whether it is online, on mobile phones, television, Kroger cards, bank cards, etc. Also cameras are practically everywhere in public settings and these tapes are watched and kept on file. Now considering this information is not all publicly available to view, where do we draw the line and how do stop this before we fall into a phase where big brother is watching?

Honestly, this all scares me and I truly believe that one day everything will be monitored and dictated if this keeps up. I do have a Facebook page in which I make everything private so only my accepted friends can see it but I am still careful about what I post. I try to take steps to protect my private life and privacy unlike many of my friends.

I believe that people are not informed and do not truly know how much information is being tracked in turn making them feel somewhat invincible, especially online. This is something that everyone should research and be concerned about since there are no laws that protect our collection of surfing online data. Privacy advocates see risks and are working on passing a Do Not Track law in which your information online cannot be tracked and collected. To me, this is a great idea and will help in trying to regulate things better. Overall, I hate the fact of being watched especially when I do not know what information is stored and sold about me. Everyone needs to be informed and laws should be passed to protect our personal privacy and lead us away from being watched and controlled by some Big Brother before it's too late.