Are We Already Living in Big Brother’s World?
George Orwell’s novel 1984 tells of a world where everything is watched by the infamous Big Brother. Has that prediction already come true?
What does Big Brother mean to you? I’m not talking about the show (this time), or your older sibling. I’m talking about the idea that everything we do is watched and controlled by a higher, more powerful organisation. Some people already think that we are living in this world, and they may be right.
Councils going through bins
Council workers have been caught going through bins to “study” what people throw away and to help councils encourage recycling, these people have been nicknamed the “bin police” or “recycling police”, while looking in your bins to check you are throwing out your rubbish correctly they can also find out what you usually eat and drink, where you shop, and we all know the dangers of putting post in the rubbish without shredding it first, if you don’t do this then someone could easily find out your bank details, how much you earn, when you get paid, and how much you usually spend every month.
Mobile Phones.
Anyone who has a mobile phone can be tracked using GPS and GSM technology. Police can also find out details of activities on phones, in other words they can check whether you have made a call, sent a text, used the internet on your phone. Mobile phones are also not immune from being “tapped” in other words, your calls can be listened to!
CCTV
Go into any shop and chances are you are being followed by CCTV, but its not just in shops, chances are you pass CCTV everyday without actually realising it. Most companies, businesses, anyone with private property have CCTV, of course they are not there to spy on you, mostly to deter criminals.
Internet/emails
If you are in work and using the company internet then someone there can always find out exactly what you are doing and what sites you are visiting. But this can happen at home as well. With all the information everyone puts out there on the internet, someone can very easily get an inside look into your life.
With the use of the internet some people have also created their own type of Big Brother society, with the use of social network anyone can access your life and find out pretty much anything, your address, your phone number, where you went on holiday, who your closest friends are, how many times a week you go out, where you work, the information goes on and on. These seemingly harmless facebook status updates and tweets show the world your life. For example, you have a restless night, you post at 3am “Wish I could get some sleep”, then again at 8am “Just got up, still tired, hoping a fry up will sort me out”, 1pm comes the post “off to Maccy Ds for lunch, can’t believe how much junk I have eaten today” 3.30pm “only an hour before finish work, can’t wait, still tired” 5pm “Not happy, bad day in work, need sleep” 6pm “Just had chicken and chips, need to start diet soon”, 9pm “getting an early night”. Everyone now knows pretty much everything about your day, companies will pay for research on people like yourself to see if their product will fit into your life, now they don’t have to do much research, they just have to add you as a friend and wait for the research to come to them.
So the next time you log on, throw something out, make a call, remember Big Brother could be watching you!
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