1984

I found that one of the most disturbing parts of Orwell's book, 1984, was how much I found similarities between the book and real life.

There are at least 13 American cities in which law enforcement officials are operating or implementing CCTV video surveillance as a way to prevent crime and promote public safety. In some cities, the videos are passively recorded and played back at certain intervals, while other cities actively monitor the surveillance images (Nieto). How is this much different then the telescreens that are everywhere and the work place monitoring that Winston has at his work.

In the book there are many ways that the Party keeps surveillance on people. One of the most important ways that the Party keeps citizens under surveillance is through the telescreens. They are found in all rooms belonging to Party members, and in public places. No one knows how often the Thought Police tap into any individual wire; it is therefore possible that they watch all screens all the time. In addition to telescreens, the police have surveillance helicopters that fly around peering into people's windows (Orwell pg. 2-3).

Another way the Party surveillances people is through their children. They use peoples children as spies. The children are ferocious towards thought criminals and most adults over the age of thirty are afraid of their own children. Children are encouraged to eavesdrop and most weeks there is a story in the newspaper about a child hero who has denounced his or her family (Orwell pg. 20-24).

"An increasing number of U.S. municipalities (mostly outside California) have begun using CCTV public video surveillance as a law enforcement tool to monitor public areas, schools, and residential districts" (Nieto). I don't find this a whole lot different then what we are reading