Is Big Brother Watching Us?
88
Is Big Brother Watching Us ?
Hands up all those who read George Orwell’s 1984 and shuddered at the thought that one day it may just happen.
Of course, in a free democracy where the people control who is in Government if there was ever any hint of such State instigated supervision we would rebel against it... wouldn’t we ?
Well actually No, we wouldn’t, or at least not so far... So I suppose my next question may come as a bit of a surprise to you, should we be more worried about Little Brother than the Big one ?
OK we all know we have had Government agencies collecting data on us and when they join all the dots together they have a fair picture of who we are and what we do with our time. Add CCTV into the equation and you can be reasonably sure that if you’re out and about somebody is watching you.
But what about Little Brother, thanks to advances in the everyday technology we now take for granted, and if you are of a certain age can’t possibly exist without it, there are now quite a few private organisations that can and do track and record our every move.
Of course if you don’t have a mobile phone, use Credit cards, own a computer, log onto the Internet, never heard of Google. Shop in Supermarkets use their loyalty card, never shop online, are not a member of HubPages Facebook or Twitter. Don’t own or insure a car never use an all in one GPS and hands free phone/ navigation system then this article will have little interest for you and you can safely leave now and go put the kettle on safe in the knowledge you are completely anonymous.
For the rest of you, you may want to know a little bit more about Little Brother, who is he, where is he and what does he know ? Some of the more obvious culprits are the Banks and Insurance companies, in modern times we couldn’t live without them and in fairness we did freely gave them a lot of the information they hold on us. However, once you create your various accounts, checking, deposit and savings the Banking system now has access to and tracks the following data on you: Your income, salary, other deposits, the time, date and location of any cash-point transaction. All transfers made by you to third parties, how frequently and where you invest your savings.
Were you also aware that Banks use ‘Data Mining’ (spyware) companies to check your online activity ?
Nor am I convinced that Insurance companies are much better, most of us have and need life insurance policies and had to fill out endless forms and disclose some fairly personal health related information which now sits like the sword of Damocles over our head.
How about the case of the car insurance company that came up with the harmless little idea that many of us pay an annual insurance fee but only use our cars a fraction of the time. How about if you only paid car insurance when you are actually making a journey ?
Great idea, save you a fortune right ? Until you suddenly realise the micro-chip in your vehicle sends data on your every motorised move, where to, where from, how long, how long you stayed where you stopped.... everything, all being sifted and sorted and going into some super doper database somewhere.
That leads us neatly onto another culprit, Mobile phones and the companies that provide the service. Thanks to technology and our insatiable demand for the latest fastest phones and smart phones mobile phone companies know who you call, when you call, how often you call certain numbers and what you say when you text. With GPS, they also now know where you are whenever you have your phone. Today’s mobile phones are effectively mini computers, and if you use them as such your phone company can track things like your use of any wireless e-commerce transactions.
The larger retail chains and Supermarkets have been snooping and tracking us for years, with their own credit-cards and loyalty points cards and I suppose as Little Brother schemes go I should perhaps downgrade them to a little ‘L’ but I’m not going to for the simple reason what business is of theirs what I eat, how I pay for it and of course if they want to how many calories I consume from my dietary habits. That may seem a frivolous point at first glance but if you consider many major Supermarkets are getting into Life Insurance as well as food and drink... you might find yourself denied insurance on the basis you pig out on Pizza and chocolate ice cream.
Finally, let me show the really bad buggers in the group and the ones that should scare you the most especially if you have kids with computers. Who knows you yourself may be in all innocence a willing participant.... I know I am !
Thanks to the power of computers and the speed and massive increases of data storage capacity the Internet has become the home of Little Brother and it has to be said it is not Government driven but the fact that we are doing it to ourselves.
Look at Facebook; innocent and harmless social Network source of fun to millions or Big Brother, Little Brother stomping ground ? The enormous amount of personal information people willingly place on that site, such as who your friends with, your likes and dis-likes, and what about all those photographs ?
Of course the downside of this is what can and does go on behind the scenes, Facebook tracks any and all profiles you view, who you communicate with, what causes you support, not to mention being able to piece together your activities and personal information about you, your friends and your family. What is most sinister is the fact that sites like Facebook with their huge servers can access a lot of the information and photos you have deleted. Scary or What?
So who is the worst of the lot.... the most powerful unofficial Little Brother of the entire World.... GOOGLE... That’s Who !
Secretly and very quietly they have set up a Global data amassing system and database that the founders of the CIA, KGB and MI6 would have given their eye teeth (well your eye teeth) for, now of course they don’t have to they just need to Google It !
Every single search we perform using Google goes into that giant database, from which they use the information to keep a profile of our habits and interests. They also keep tabs on the links we click on during our search and which advertisers you visit. Google will then use this information to place targeted adverts into our browser. Don’t believe me.... just look at every spare space around this article as you read. The ones you see are different from the ones I see and that goes for everybody reading this right now.
Did you know if you use Gmail Google monitor your email so they can again target you with specific adverts ?
Many of us use Google for all sorts of things, planning a trip, checking out destinations perhaps even finding the company who will take us there and when.
Take a look at Google Maps, fantastic isn’t it ? You can see your city, town or village, zoom in and walk down your street and see your house.... That’s really cool ! What’s perhaps not so cool is I can walk down your street as well ! Scary Huh ? and I’m a nice guy !
Using Google’s Maps, satellite triangulation and GPS in your car and or your smart phone your every movement can be tracked in real time.
The absurdity of it all is the fact that if a Government agency had set all this up we would be lining politicians up against the wall but the fact that the consolidation of various technologies together with sheer modern day computing power nobody seemed to notice it happening and even less nobody seems to care.
Ho Hum ! Too late Now !
CommentsLoading...
You're right it is and if you watch TV adverts the supermarkets brag about how big their database actually is.
If you shop at Asda they tell you to keep your receipt...there's a number on it and if you go online and enter the number they will tell you if saved any money when compared with the competition.
Clever that and so innocent.... now you have just given them a direct link to your computer and I bet you get lot's of Asda related adverts as a result.
Seems harmless, they are only trying to save us money right ?
Cue creepy music from the Twilight zone.
YES...and I have done the ASDA thing as well !!
Merlin, you have made some very valid, very scary points. I knew about Facebook and thus never joined, but I had not thought about Google. Thanks!
Hi Mysterylady,
Hope it doesn't keep you up nights.... I don't think Google have any sinister intentions my great fear is that with all that data captured and held in databases soone ror later it is going to end up in the wrong hands or worse the State !
I have read that the original title of "1984" was "1948". England and the U.S. were already setting up tracking as fast as their fascist asses could go. Russia was allowed to keep Eastern Europe so that we would have an enemy as outlined in "1984". Now, control is complete. England is number one in surveillance cameras everywhere, and the U.S. and probably Australia close behind.
The Google and other databases (phone, internet access, supermarkets...) are already available to the government. If the government has not yet been after you, it is because you are not a big enough fish to seize assets from or to make an example of.
See, for example, what happened to e-gold, which was trying to set up an independent value protected pay system.
Hi Dabeaner,
I think the title of 1984 was just a simple transfiguration of the numbers, the book was originally written in 1948.
While it is true that many of our freedoms have been whittled away, much under the guise of, "for our greater protection" or "If you have nothing to hide what's the problem...?"
It is also true that much of the equipment used for surveillance and data gathering was not produced at the instigation of any Governmental body but the creation of private enterprise for profit. Or in other words our own have been supplying the tools being used against us....
When the dreaded speed camera first appeared on our roads there was always the outside chance that the flash you saw in your rear view mirror was it... because the camera had run out of film. That was until some smart arse developed the high speed digital speed camera linked directly to a computer so that EVERY Speeder got a ticket. You could say, “Serves them right” and most would agree up to a point. If speeding was considered a misdemeanour you’d pay your fine and go upon your way . But No! It’s a crime and now you have a criminal record this allows the state to take and retain your Photograph, Finger prints and DNA. Drip....Drip....Drip....!
Hi Merlin It is very true with the feeling of being watched as you go about doing shopping up town around the shops and the moment you fill in a form they got you and when you go a computer with your e-mail password the things you search for or buy.As for your mobile well when go abroad they find you because the text you welcome you to where ever you are offering you ways to call your friends and family.It is scary when you stop and think about it and it is best not to.
I've been aware for some time that my life's an open book. As if the deliberate efforts to probe, spy and invade which you've mentioned weren't enough, my humongous personal website fills in many other details to which they might not otherwise have access. I have never solicited "hits" or massive random visits to it, so imagine my surprise when, quite a few years ago when I still thought it was "low profile" and that only my invited friends even knew to drop in, I discovered EVERY single page - of my 150 or so pages - was either directly or indirectly tagged, referenced and available for anyone to access on Google - and Google itself was still in infancy! wow
I just hoped perhaps that the abundant plethora of stuff I've posted online over some 13 years may discourage interest in poking into it. Sometimes things work that way. The person who jealously guards even so much as a listing of his full name anywhere and heaven forbid, his photo - is possibly followed up and hunted more than someone with a tiresome plentitude of information, pictures and history online. If not - well as you say - the grocery card which gives me discounts also has my statistics in their files, - and on and on it goes.
One used to fret and worry that the "Books" in heaven would be pulled out when we've died and all our secrets revealed. Well - now - Saint Peter may have to subscribe to Facebook & to Google to keep up with us and compete with Big Brother and his pals! LOL
Hi Stargazer,
Don't you feel surveillance these days is like an itch you can’t scratch, you know they are doing it and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it. The point I was making is that it is not the State that is doing it, although I feel sure they have full access to all that data, have you noticed on all the latest police TV programmes the first things they grab is your computer and mobile phone. Spy’s in our lives and we had to buy them as well.... now there’s irony for you.
Hi Nellieanna,
Like you I have a lot of information about me on the Internet, possibly too much but as an author who wants recognition I can’t really have it both ways, not that it seems to work that way, well not for me anyway. I still feel like a National secret !
As for your Heavenly worries, I don’t think you personally have too much to worry about, as for the rest of us .... It’s probably a service that Google or the Supermarkets will provide in the future. St. Peter will be replaced by Simon Cowell and we will all have a Bar Code tattooed on our butt and as we pass through a scanner there will be a big green arrow pointing up or a red one pointing down.
I won't be able to sleep tonight after reading this. I had no idea it had got quite so bad. I only joined Facebook yesterday and am now regretting it. I love your comment about heavenly worries, lol. A great post.
Christine
Hi Christine,
Opps ! But if it makes you feel safer I don't think they watch us sleeping, well not yet anyway !
I hope they dont..I wouldnt like to think im being spied on in the bedroom....mine or anyone elses !!!
In the book there was cameras behind the TV screens now of course we have web cams that can we switched on from remote locations....
Don't think this is making you feel any better HUH ?
Great article. Unfortunately I have been aware of this and disliked this, for quite some time. However, I have resolved to accept it as the times we live in, as much as I would love to be invisible. For example, one time I phoned up about an account of mine, and after answering a series of questions about myself, for identification purposes, I was so annoyed I sarcastically offered the additional information that I had also had a white coffee with two sugars and milk, and a muffin just before I phoned. Was there anything else they would like to know? It's a sore point for me.
Hi Janette,
You are right of course, it is now virtually impossible to be invisible, even if we wanted to.
For instance, we would find it extremeely hard to go back to a cash only world, not impossible but it would be restrictive. Ok we can switch off our mobile phones when we are not actually using them. Use the cheapest pay as you type of phone you can get. Never send Text or Email, in fact better to bin the Internet altogether.
Bin your Supermarket points card and always pay in cash. Never take part in surveys and on and on....
I think worse than all the security questions is when they phone you to sell you something new, "Can I speak to so and so....?
"Speaking." Then you get the build up then comes the security questions to make sure it's really you....
One silly sod asked me what was the last Direct Debit paid on my account ?
I responded, not unnaturally I thought, "How the hell should I know... that's the whole point of setting the stupid things up in the first place is so a) you don't forget to make the payment and b) not even have to thing about them."
His response was, "then I will have to terminate this conversation because you have failed the security questions...."
He seemed a tad put out when I said, "Listen Numbnuts, you called me in the first place and I didn't want to talk to you at all ?"
Now, you got me thinking Merlin. Do we have much of a choice?
Not if we want all the comfort and advantages that come with the technology, it' s the price we have to pay....
Technology is here to stay I'm afraid and we suckers have helped the 'big and little' brothers to prosper. We can bitch and complain as much as we like but nothing will change. Really, if you have nothing to hide, what's the problem.
Mind you, neither 'big or little' has found Bin Laden yet, what's taking them so long? Surely he has a credit card?
Thanks for a thought provoking hub Merlin.
Hi mpg,
Thanks for stopping by, of course you're right there really is nothing we can do about it, but I have to disagree with your comment " if you have nothing to hide, what's the problem ?"
The problem is, firstly "It's none of their damned business !"
That and more importantly, there is in place all the wonderful tools for a Police State should any Government suddenly decide to take over.
Personally, I think Bin Laden is already dead.... they got him in one of their 'Bunker Buster' missions.
Someone with that big a twisted ego would shout from the roof tops "You Missed ME !"
As usual you are right Merlin, there is the issue of a police state but I really do think people power would win over in the end, we just wouldn't allow it to happen. Unless they do it in a sneaky manner in which case we wouldn't notice at first.
I don't think they care about the little people anyway as we are no real threat to world security, although we could all band together and TAKE OVER THE WORLD! bahhh, ha ha!!! :D lol
People Power, might work in your part of the world and possibly in some other parts but I doubt it would happen here. The people in this country are so bloody apathetic they neither notice nor care.
They'd moan about it but that's about as far as it might get!
Hi, What makes me so mad about it is the people sitting there sifting through our secret stuff! how dare they? I tend to get a bit itzy about this sort of thing! ha ha if it was Einstein calculating something interesting for us then fine, but there are so many and I quote 'Chuckle buts', my favourite word when I get mad! ha ha, looking at our stuff, what are they going to do with it, apart from the obvious. I think I will go around there house and pilfer their drawers! see if they like it! lol I'll get of my soap box now before I fall off and hurt myself! cheers nell
It's the fact that the data has been accessed and stored and could be used for all sorts of nefarious uses... Even as we speak the BBC news is full of Cyber theft and the like. So no matter how innocent the original data gathering if it’s on a computer somewhere then it’s possible for that data to be hacked into or stolen and used.
We all need to be really careful of what we put out there. It may come back to haunt us.
Very true Susie, but it's the information taken from us apparently harmlessly, I was doing some online research for a friend of mine thinking of buying a new car, my screen has been full of car adverts ever since.
Google is the biggest culprit but it's too late to stop them now !
Merlin I thoroughly enjoyed this hub and I hope you don,t mind but I added it as a link to one I am getting ready to publish. Good job !
Hi Tony,
No objections at all glad you think it worthy.
Latest update from this side of the pond is that the authorities are about to initialise the latest in digital CCTV camera on the poor unsuspecting motorist.
This one can look inside the car as it passes by and will check the number plate, speed, and tax disc as it visually monitors your activity for signs of driving without due care and attention. IE One handed, talking on a mobile eating, drinking a coke or scratching your butt. Plus a computer check will be conducted on the car to see if the number plate matches the registration, the owners insurance is up to date and there are no outstanding penalties like parking tickets.
With this device all the local police need to do is sit on the side of the road with a cash register !
Thanks for stopping by.
Hail Big Brother, Hail Little Brother, and Hail even Tiniest Brother, its everywhere, a system ready to bounce and grab, from behind, upfront, upwards, and downwards, we are doomed!
Excellent hub, Merlin. Scary info, but all too true. I just manage to put it out of my mind most of the time, or I would get totally paranoid.
I bowed out of Facebook after a short while, cancelled my account and was then told by a friend that my info is still out there! One of the "preferences" I selected when I closed the account was to delete everything, but it didn't happen. Now, I can't even log back in and delete it myself because the account is closed!
The cash register receipt from my local supermarket lures one (and yes, I was one who was lured) to log onto their website and take a "survey", for which one is entered into a cash drawing (with a gazillion other people). After I foolishly did that, I began getting coupon offers from the store. In order to print the coupons, I had to download their special program that did something so horrid(and difficult to repair) to my desktop computer that the computer tech with whom I have my maintenance agreement is still mad at me!
Smart phones have their own set of problems. Hackers are now targeting them as well as computers. When a hacker hacks into a mobile smart phone and puts a nasty program into the phone's address book, the phone will (without the owner's help or knowledge) then call the phone numbers of everyone listed--repeatedly! When someone answers, he or she has created another link to the phone just answered. This recently happened to one of my sons (his phone, that is), and, because my phone number is in his address book, my phone called my ex-husband's number (which is also in his phone's address book), while my ex-husband's phone called my number--over and over again, day and night. This is not a good thing to happen--believe me! I finally convinced my ex that I wasn't calling him, only my phone was! Actually, he just believed me then because his phone and our son's phone were also calling each other! Crazy!
I do a lot of shopping online, so I'm on every spammer's email list, as well as (seemingly) every postal service mailing list in the world.
There is no respite from all these electronic spies, and the worry about identity theft is only a tip of the iceburg....If hackers can get into some of the most (supposedly) secure organizational computers, what chance do we ordinary mortals have against their tech expertise?
JAYE
Hi Jaye,
I think the simple answer is we don't, it may sound a little paranoid but all this Hi Tech Gizzmo is not our friend.
What amuses me is the way the younger generation can't seem to be able to live their lives without it.
The TV Smart Phone Advert, "There's an App for that !"
Actively promotes satelite navigation from their mobile phone.
Just great for anyone who fancies a hike up a mountain... Shoot...! Who needs a map and compass anymore ?
Um! You Do Dumb Ass... There are no battery charging points up there !
Electronics don't like damp/wet rain or snow or you slipping on your butt on top of it !
Oh Yeah! Having a phone smarter than you isn't considered an aid to survival !
It's far worse than what was mentioned. I know for a fact that I have been stalked and electronically harassed for the past 5 years (at least). I can be made to feel this awful ringing in my ears that causes pain and disturbing ideation. I've had a "fake heart attack" caused by Electronic harassment (on-the-job, no less), death threats, predictions of my soon-to-be-death, had my car rigged so that it couldn't slow down and a gun pointed at me. All while being told to "shut-up".
I'm getting it now as I write this. They know my every move. It's being reported by some who have finally become aware of what is happening to them. If you or anyone you know suffers from: ringing in the ears, feelings of being "tazed", gangstalking or mentally-manipulated via an outside source, check out my HubPages site. I've found ways to shut it out that will be most helpful to anyone undergoing this invisible violation of their human rights!
Like MOEFLATS, I'm in the same situation, we and many others around the world.
In 1999 the European Parliament made a resolution A4-0005/99 that recognizes the need of doing an international convention to protect human beings from any manipulation through this weapons since there are clear evidences that the 'no-lethal' weapons are very lethal, capable of death and affecting countries and populations. Until this day the international response to this worldwide situation do not come yet. There are some progress being made at some states of US, that passed law about this, is a good start but is not enough. US citizens made public comment to the painel of the Presidential Comission of Bioethical Studies, in their endeavour of awareness and asking the action of protection of their rights, they even made some representation of worldwide citizens, but all this effort is an undergoing journey.
The information that exists out there in militar sites, institutional sites, are not doing is way to mainstream, only few media give news about this.
The responsibles would like no talk, of course, but the truth will always leak, resist, make is way. Someone, somehere, will always believe there are rights to defend even when the truth seems hard to believe.
With the recent introduction of SOPA and PIPA bills now we can see the little brother growing up to the big brother.
Loveslove 19 months ago
That is really SCARY !!!