1984 1.1-2 Privacy

In the novel, no one in London has privacy. They are constantly watched and heard on the telescreens by the Thought Police. Everyone lives with the paranoia of being monitored and threatened all the time. The Thought Police have the authority to invade a person's privacy whenever they want to. There is no safe place to be alone because the telescreens are located positions in every room at work and home. They are positioned where they have a clear view of the entire room, so they can track every movement. The people do not even have privacy in their minds to think for themselves because Big Brother controls their thoughts, such as with the two minutes hate program. He forces everyone to think the same in support of him. Even though Winston tries to resist the common emotion, he joins in with the chanting after the program. The police impinge on the civil liberties because they will arrest citizens in the night, and without a trial, they vaporize people from records as if they never existed. The people have no privacy from Big Brother.

In our society, the government also violates our civil liberties, especially after September 11, 2001. They created the Patriot Act, which made it easier to arrest people who they thought were suspicious of threatening national security. They added more surveillance cameras in public places to watch people, such as in airports and traffic lights. Security workers at the airports can see all of you belongings and throw out anything they consider to be a threat. Also, people have little privacy with social media sites like FaceBook, but this is partially due to our own fault. It is easy to find out all about another person's personal information on the internet. They know your address and age and can see pictures of you with a click of the mouse. FaceBook uses your information to connect you with people who you may know, such as family members or people who went to your high school. The internet is connected with cell phones, so it tracks your calls and searches online.