1984 Surveillance Technology

The surveillance technology of 1984 is not very different from our world today, we also have surveillance cameras and microphones, what is different is in how they are implemented. Big Brother spied on citizens to watch all of them, not just be able to catch criminals. Another difference is that the surveillance technology of today may even have surpassed that of 1984. What is similar between the world of today and the world of 1984, is that the government watched the citizens, and it could indeed be said today that “Big Brother is watching”. In 1984 they seem to use two types of surveillance technology, microphones and telescreens. Microphones pick up and transmit sound from a location, and telescreens are screens that can see and record everything in front of it and record sound, as well as give video and audio messages through its …show more content…
In the US today the similar technology we have are microphones and surveillance cameras. Surveillance cameras in the US today are generally only used for protection, to have evidence of a crime if one is committed and otherwise the footage is useless. In 1984 all footage from a telescreen may be carefully looked through to detect any indicator of criminality in the citizens. They also use microphones in places where telescreens would be inconvenient. Instead of leaving microphones out in the open to catch people's conversations, in the US, email and phone correspondence may be watched and suspected criminals may have their homes and businesses bugged, but surveillance is not placed in the homes of all citizens as they are in 1984. Another tool we have that seems almost worse than anything in 1984, is a technology called stingray. It broadcasts a signal imitating a cellphone tower and cell phones will connect to it if they are near it, even if they are not