Big Brother is watching

Oct 23, 2010 Editorial

In 1948, George Orwell finished a book that is now the classic 1984. That masterpiece speaks of the country spying on its people. The people’s every action is under close scrutiny and of course, the phrase “Big Brother is watching” becomes the favourite password.
Back in 1948 when the book was completed, that work was considered fiction because at that time it seemed impossible that a country could spy on all of its people. There was the idea that there was some secret police who would walk around spying on people and reporting to a higher authority.
Today, the development of electronic technology has made everything in 1984—the book—possible. The major powers eavesdrop on telephone conversations, monitor the movement of people and vehicles, and can track anyone who gets on a cellular phone.
There is more. If there are certain words in a conversation that signals a threat, within minutes Big Brother—in this case the state—can locate the person and the phone used for appropriate action.
For more than a decade, in the United States, police patrols could routinely scan the number plates of a vehicle and learn so much about the owner that it would boggle the mind. Big Brother has been able to use electronic evidence gathered against people. For example, it has successfully prosecuted criminal elements having used the results of electronic surveillance both audio and video.
Big Brother is a most remarkable system. It is invasive but at the same time, the societies in which it is implemented seem not to mind. Most feel that it is for their safety. Things have reached the stage where there are cameras on the streets spying on people’s every move. At first the cameras were merely to detect cars that breached the traffic lights. Today, they are useful spy documents.
They helped detect a group of spies that used forged passports to kill an Arab citizen in Dubai. In Canada they have helped track stolen cars and even murderers. In London when four young men placed bombs on the subway, cameras caught them and later led to the arrest of the survivors.
Guyana is fast approaching this stage. It has recognized the importance of electronic surveillance. Late last year the government passed a law that allowed for wiretapping. This now means that telephone calls, particularly those made on mobile phones can be intercepted.
For some time now, people have been wary of saying certain things on the telephone despite assurances that landlines are safe from interference. Now mobile phones can be and are targeted.
There is the real fear that the most private and intimate conversations could be intercepted either for the pleasure of the eavesdropper or for blackmail. The government assures that this would not be the case.
At the height of the carjacking spree the government announced that it was going to introduce cameras along the streets. This sounded like a good idea because the cars that are hijacked could be tracked fast and relatively accurately. Yet there are those who would be nervous because their private dealing would be exposed.
Given the indiscipline in Guyana the police would be very busy prosecuting lawbreakers. People urinate on the streets, litter and even damage public property. And since electronic evidence can be used in the courts life would be pretty busy for those who have sworn to uphold the law.
Yet there is a worry about the invasion of privacy. Many would prefer to do things without the scrutiny of the state. The politicians would not be too happy because none of them would want to be scrutinized. Yet there is the irony, it is the politicians who want Big Brother in Guyana.
He is already in work places and had helped catch numerous dishonest workers. He has captured killings on certain locations but this has only been done at private expense.
The state wants to expand the role of Big Brother but do we want such an invasion? Given the crime situation most would if only Big Brother is an eye on the streets. But then he is so much more.

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