The world of Big Brother is one that many fear coming face to face with. Big Brother is society’s image of the government having full control over every aspect of their lives, including private matters that the government normally shouldn’t have access to. Modern technology has advanced immensely through the years and has brought a fair amount of worry regarding the boundaries of privacy between government and its people. Certain factors are being noticed that have convinced civilians that the government is slowly pushing their way further into matters beyond their concern. The development of modern technology is pushing today’s world closer to that of Big Brother through the advanced surveillance of cell phones, security cameras, and internet tracking.
To start, the government has the advantage of modern day cellular phones equipped with tracking software. The first thing that suggests cell phones are one way that technology is pushing today’s society closer to the world of Big Brother is the fact that they are highly trackable and easy to surveil. The tracking software acts as a viable way to find out the everyday life of cell-phone users, which the government most definitely has access to through advanced databases. According to “That’s Not My Phone, It’s My Tracker,” authors Peter Maass and Megha Rajagopalan claim that, “…many cellphone users have been swept up in government surveillance of their calls and where they made them from.” The government not only has the ability to surveil actual phone calls themselves, but also has access to where the calls were made from, which is hard evidence of cell phones containing location tracking software. Cell phones were originally made to perform phone calls; however, with the advanced technology of today’s smart phones, everyone is always connected to some source of internet at all times and is making their personal information easy for anyone to access. With the government being able to access that software and easily surveil anyone at anytime without illegally violating anyone’s right to privacy, it shows that today’s society has the technology that the government would need to further transform into the world of Big Brother. Also, many smartphone users are only recently realizing the depth of this strip of privacy that they are abiding to. The government has been surveilling cell phone users for years, in most cases, without their knowledge. One example comes from an article called, “How The Government Can Spy On You, And What You Can Do About It” written by Arthur Baxter, which states, “Google snuck code into advertisements that would install tracking cookies into users’ devices without their knowledge.” It has also been discovered that Google knows nearly every wifi password in the world, scans users’ emails just to serve more relevant advertisements, and more. Most people don’t even know about the mass tracking going on behind the technology installed on their phones. The government having access to all this information feels like a huge invasion of privacy, but if society continues to pay for the phone and the services, they are also paying for the push towards a Big Brother form of governmental control.
In addition, security cameras that have been put in place for safety precautions are being used by the government for excessive surveillance, which can be argued whether this does or does not go beyond the purpose of having these cameras. What makes security cameras a factor that pushes society towards the world of Big Brother is how the surveillance of these security cameras have reached the point of breaching people’s privately owned cameras. LA Times article, “Long Beach Police To Use 400 Cameras To Fight City-Wide Crime,” states, “Tapping into hundreds of privately owned cameras, the system synchronizes law enforcement data with real-time video feeds…” (Winton). City police chiefs argue that they are putting more eyes on the street without putting more bodies out there; however, a large portion of their job as the protectors of society is to go to the physical lengths that it takes to fully protect civilians rather than take the easy way out. In taking the “easy way out,” officials are sacrificing civilians’ right to privacy. Breaching private cameras for the purpose of having extra eyes on the streets without physical presence becomes highly questionable when giving up personal security and privacy, as well as offering governmental access to information like that of Big Brother’s world. Furthermore, the government has come up with far more advanced technology than just the average security camera. New devices have come out that allow the government to spy on its civilians in more complex and hidden ways. In the article, “17 Ways Today’s Big Brother Government Exceeds Orwell’s Fears,” an unnamed author mentions that, “The government can see through the walls of [people’s] home[s] through radar devices … uses unmanned drones to monitor [society] from above.” Recent devices have come out that allow the government to view into the homes of many through heat vision and radar, making it possible to track where a person is in their own dwelling without their knowledge and/or possibly consent. It has also been found that there is a new camera system that has been developed that uses drones and is so detailed that it can discern specific movements and what someone is wearing. By using and allowing the manufacturing/use of these products, the government has basically asserted its intent to digging their way into the society’s private matters. The push towards the world of Big Brother is only increasing with the amount of steps being taken to advance surveillance technology on society.
Lastly, the extent of internet tracking has reached a level of intense privacy breach as Big Brother continues to closely monitor everything on the world wide web. Internet tracking is another factor that proves the government is moving closer to an Orwellian society because there is actual history and evidence of everything that has ever touched the internet, hidden in millions of databases. As said by John Brandon in his article, “Your Web Browsing Is Being Tracked — Is Government Regulation the Answer?”, “Every click made on the Internet is being tracked, not just by Web browser but by hundreds of small companies that tie the click of a mouse to an IP address — and then to a name.” If hundreds of small companies have access to every click made on the internet, the government surely has access as well. Everything on the internet is traceable, which means that any time anyone has ever visited or clicked on anything, there is record of it somewhere. Every website contains history of every IP address, and who it belongs to, that has ever made internet contact with them. With this knowledge in mind, Big Brother can surely access the internet whereabouts of anyone they could ever want to track. Due to a large amount of hackers and other tech savvy internet users, everyone’s internet whereabouts can also be accessed by just about anyone. Arthur Baxter goes on to mention that, “What’s unclear about web tracking is who is doing it, how they are using the data, and who buys it.” Because the cookies that are planted onto websites to track activities of visitors, the companies that own those cookies can sell that information. The unknown is how and what the data is being used for. Security experts have concluded that this is dangerous because not only is the government violating society’s privacy, but that information can be used to manipulate the public. The government having so much involvement with internet tracking further proves that modern technology is more than enough to turn today’s world into a Big Brother society.
The government is becoming more and more exposed about the invasions of civilian privacy in which they are sacrificing for the sake of surveillance. With exposure comes the realization that the government’s intentions to surveil all and any information accessible are rapidly pushing society towards the world of Big Brother. Through the surveillance of cell phones, security cameras, and internet tracking, the government practically knows and sees everything that can possibly be seen. Much of the information obtained is being collected without consent; although, there are ways to protect personal and private matters. It is important that modern technology acts as an advantage to society without inhibiting the security of privacy.