This Essay was originally written in 2014, and has been posted on two (now defunct) blogs of mine
Surveillance has become commonplace, from the prying lenses of CCTV cameras mounted on every wall, to the forced GPS abilities on our self-inflicted addictions called smart phones. This social norm of surveillance that the United States, and the rest of the western world, participates in would have been unthinkable of just a few decades ago, with any government that did it being considered among the ranks of Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia, Mao’s China, or Perón’s Argentina. One of the many thinkers to oppose this kind of totalitarianism was Eric Blair, who wrote numerous literary works under his pseudonym George Orwell, especially his landmark novel 1984. But this warning that was published in 1948 was unheeded, and when you compare 2014 with this dystopian world you begin to see that Orwell was right, he was just 30 years late.
The telescreens were mounted on nearly every wall of every room throughout Oceania, and through them “it was… conceivable that [the State] watched everybody all the time” (Orwell 3). This constant surveillance had become a part of the daily life of the citizens of this nation united under IncSoc (Orwell 3), and with it they acted as if every minute of their lives they were watched. Winston Smith, the main character of Orwell’s famous work, lives in this state of legal paranoia that has been induced by the Party, the elite group that rules over Oceania, who rose to power in some Soviet-style Bolshevistic revolution. The doctrine of this party seems to suggest that this surveillance state was established to safeguard the revolution, the state, and the people themselves, against the enemies, such as the “capitalists…. [who] wore top hats” (Orwell 89-90), while the members of the Inner Party claim it just as a way to have power for powers sake. This seems like a paradox, but when you examine the rest of the party’s doctrine, such as “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (Orwell 16), this two-faced lie seems like nothing out of the ordinary.
When we understand the true motives of the Party’s surveillance state in 1984, we realize that even in our reality “we cannot expect governments, corporations, or other large, faceless organizations to grant us privacy out of their beneficence” (Hughes). This was the realization of the Cypherpunks on the dawn of the public Internet, as well as Winston upon the dawn of his intellectual awakening. In the world of 1984 technology had been co-opted by the government since the rise of the Party to power as a method of safeguarding the revolution, but in our world it wasn’t until around the early 2000s, when the Cold War had ended, that the nations of the western world led by the United States were presented a single faceless enemy that had attacked, and gave them a reason for similar continuing mass control over the technology (as well as many other things) all in the name of national security. The nations of the west have been stuck in this perpetual war in the same region of the world with this first faceless enemy, or perhaps some nation that supports them; likewise, Oceania and all of its neighbouring nations are in a similar state of perpetual war “which is also useful for the keeping up public morale” (Orwell 207), and therefore obedience and acceptance of the current police state that they live under. This state of fear induced, near apathy sounds all too familiar.
We have given too many of our freedoms to agencies with three letter acronyms in the name of security, and the those we don’t actively give up to these agencies, are taken from us without our consent. At airports it’s the TSA, and online it’s the NSA, that controls our movements and keep track of where we go. In the physical world, people challenge the TSA through humorously “[complying] to TSA security protocol” (Kokesh) causing the whole process to become bogged up and slow down, while people like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden call out our digital despots in speeches and leaked documents, for which they are put in prison or forced to leave the country. But these activists only shared information with the public, but are being charged with espionage, which legally means sharing information with the enemy. Using governmental jargon, this means “that the US Government views [its citizens] as the enemy” (Paul), an enemy that they’re afraid of, and enemy that they need to control. But with the apathy and fear present in both Oceania and modern America very few groups in either places within will realize that, to the government, the populace, not some foreigner half a world away is the enemy .
The Party uses the telescreens to watch the people, and with their presence in nearly every room, this is not hard, but in the modern world it seems impossible for the government to do something like this, but when you read this on a laptop, smart-phone, tablet, or other kind of modern computer, look for a microphone. This seems too much like fiction (such as 1984) but in 2014 it is becoming a reality. Telecommunications providers will provide you with internet assess, but will also provide your information to the NSA. Similarly search engines like Google collect “browser and computer info, which can often uniquely identify you” (Duck Duck Go), and provide it to the same organizations as your ISP. And where monitoring your connections isn’t enough, some special NSA units “can intercept computer equipment… and install tracking hardware or software before [it]… reaches the buyers” (Fingas). This mass surveillance seems to be more and more like the telescreen surveillance of the Party of Oceania. The people who reveal this tracking as well as many other abuses, such as the previously stated whistle-blowers, have been chastised by the government and at points hunted down and imprisoned. Although the Brotherhood in 1984 may be a fiction, this elite group of tech-savvy whistle-blowers could just be a modern reflection of the group who may-or-may-not fight against the Party. And similarly, perhaps the central figure in these rebel organizations, Goldstein in the Brotherhood of 1984, could be incarnated in Julian Assange, the head of Wikileaks, who protects and supports various whistle blowers, and likewise is hunted along with them. Assange may not have been a revolutionary fighting alongside George Bush and Barrack Obama in establishing this massive police state only to rebel when the outcome was not pleasing, but he is fighting against them just as hard.
The mass surveillance of the modern day has been met with mixed reactions, with some people doing everything they can to avoid it (using complex encryption, proxies, open source software, etc) while the apathetic people who allowed this state to arise (whom also vastly outnumber the paranoid, modern day, reincarnation of the Cypherpunks) just take it as a normal day to day occurrence. In the world of 1984, those of the first group would be sent to the Ministry of Peace, but in our modern civilized time they are just “detained at airports and [have their] electronic equipment seized” (“Jacob Appelbaum”). When asked about the scale of this program of governmental surveillance, D.L., a sophomore at [Location Redacted] said that what “the U.S. Government is doing is too intrusive” (L.). If we lived in Oceania, D. would have become an unperson, someone removed from history, due to his opinion. Who knows, perhaps people like Edward Snowden or Julian Assange will be among the unpeople in the real world, such as those erased from history under the rule of Stalin (and perhaps US presidents as well).
Some people though, think that the surveillance is a necessary part of life, either through support out of fear, or total apathy. J.J., another student at [Location Redacted] was asked about his opinion of governmental surveillance and replied with “Personally, if they want to see what kind of porn I’m watching, I don’t care, go for it, I’m not doing anything wrong” (J.). This kind of apathy is dangerous though, since as seen in 1984, and increasingly in the modern world, apathy leads to abuse of power, and abuse of the people and their freedoms. Our apathy may lead to the creation of the police state in our world, but in the world of Oceania it just solidifies the government’s hold on the people. With apathy, government becomes more powerful, and even more dangerous.
Orwell wrote 1984 as a warning, a warning to the apathetic and to those who seek security over liberty, not as an instruction manual for power-hungry states disguised as protectors of freedom. When we sacrifice some freedom to the state, we might as well give it all up because generation after generation they will take more and more away, until our descendants live without their own lives. If we don’t fight back now, mass surveillance of this scale will become a vague and romantic memory of the past, and we will read 1984 as if it is the diary of a modern day traitor. Humanity must understand that we are free, and that none of our freedoms must be sacrificed in the name of security, or peace, or good will, or anything. Freedom is its own goal, Freedom is to know what two plus two is.
Works Cited
Duck Duck Go. “Google Tracks You. We Don’t. An Illustrated Guide.” Google Tracks You. We Don’t. An Illustrated Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. http://donttrack.us/.
Fingas, Jon. “Engadget.” Engadget. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/29/nsa-can-reportedly-bug-computer-equipment-before-it-sees-buyers/.
Hughes, Eric. “A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto.” A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto. Activism.net, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. http://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/manifesto.html.
“Jacob Appelbaum.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Feb. 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Appelbaum.
J., J. “Interview with J.J..” Interview by [Author]. N.d.
Kokesh, Adam. “Arrested in My Underwear at a TSA Checkpoint.” YouTube. YouTube, 19 Dec. 2011. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-z95aGUAJI.
L., D. “Interview with D.L..” Interview by [Author]. N.d.
Orwell, George, and Erich Fromm. 1984: A Novel. New York, NY: Signet Classic, 1961. Print.
Paul, Ron. “Live by Quotes.” Live by Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. http://livebyquotes.com/2013/my-understanding-is-that-espionage-means-giving-secret-or-classified-information-to-the-enemy-since-snowden-shared-information-with-the-american-people-his-indictment-for-espionage-could-revea/.
Interview with D.L.*:
[Author]: Name, Age, Grade?
D.L.: D.L., 16, sophomore.: So have you heard about the NSA Surveillance
D: Like, This Day and Age?
A: Yes.
D: Yes, I Have.
A: So what’s your opinion on it?
D: I feel like a small amount is necessary to keep the peace, but the amount that the US Government is doing is too intrusive, and that security has turned into paranoia. I worry that in the next few years it will turn into something too intrusive.
Interview with J.J.*:
[Author]: So what’s your opinion on the whole NSA Surveillance thing?
J.J.: Personally, if they want to see what kind of porn I’m watching, I don’t care, go for it, I’m not doing anything wrong.
*Names Redacted, initials only.