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Monday, August 1, 2016

Is Big Brother watching?

Another of the "are we living in 1984?" posts.  Since the last 2 posts argued in favor, here's a student who argued against us living in an Orwellian present.



In 2013, intelligence contractor Edward Snowden released a series of classified documents from the National Security Administration (NSA) to the Guardian, who exposed it to the public. These documents detailed the level of access the agency had to someone’s communications both online and over the phone. Initial outrage has transitioned into continued suspicion and skepticism, leaving people to wonder if our society has quietly transitioned into the authoritarian state that was the setting for the classic novel 1984. I don’t believe our society is anywhere close to resembling that of Winston Smith’s world, and I blame a misunderstanding of the government programs for this common comparison.