By John Wallace
Prophetic insight or just hype? In 1949, George Orwell wrote his masterpiece “1984”. It was a glimpse into what the future might be like. A future where a tyrannical police state ruled and big brother watched your every move. A future where even thought was policed and punished when not in line with big brother. With the way the world is going, many would say we are living in an “Orwellian State” right now.
Cameras have been going up in Canada, the United States, Spain and Europe with alarming speed, with Great Britain holding the record with over 4.2 million closed circuit television cameras. All in the name of security right? Or is it?
The London attack of 7/7 showed us that the average person that walks the streets in London has their picture taken up to 300 times daily. Yet it seems they are no more secure today, in fact, the cameras had no effect on the first attack of the Underground.
According to EPIC (Electronic Privacy Intelligence Center), cameras were used to watch public protest at America’s Capital building, Including the “Million Man March, Right to Life rallies, The World Bank/International Monetary Fund protest and more.
For the past few years, Wal-Mart has kept track of customer debit and credit card purchases made at their stores and in 2006 hope to have all of their stores set up with R.F.I.D. technology (Radio Frequency Identification). Therefore, this means before any items can be sold in their stores, they will have to have the R.F.I.D. tags incorporated into them.
Imbedded microchips, one of the newest forms of tracking technology are on the rise, the Baja Beach Club in Spain offers its patrons a unique club with dancing and poolside bars, it is a very attractive hot spot for the younger crowd; it is the first club in the world that offers you the veri-chip. By using an integrated chip, their VIPS can identify themselves and pay for drinks without showing any identification.
The chip, about the size of a grain of rice is injected under the skin using a large syringe; it will hold all the information about the member including their bank account. Once scanned, using a scanning device similar to those in the grocery stores, the members purchase is automatically deducted from their bank account.
In the United States, California and Oregon are experimenting with transponders placed into automobiles to test for a new mileage tax. New meters are going into homes to monitor electric and water usage. During peak usage hours, customers will be charged a higher rate.
The United States Congress overwhelmingly passed “the Real I.D. Act” (a national I.D. card) to be in place by 2008. In order to obtain a drivers license you will be required to have the following, a birth certificate, social security card, another picture I.D., proof of residence( electric bill, phone bill) and for security purposes, a biometric signature such as a finger print or retina scan.
The Transportation Security Administration proposed the trial use of Backscatter X-Ray machines for passenger screening at several U.S. airports. A high-energy beam will scan across the person’s body creating a high-resolution image, which will be mainly of the surface of the person or object scanned. Individuals will be seen however as they were nude as they stand in front of the device.
Going to vacation spots like Walt Disney World, Sea world and even the Statue of Liberty require biometric fingerprint scanning to enter. Cameras on a daily basis are monitoring everyone from children in school to people shopping and living their daily lives. The question I ask is, does this make us any safer today, or is it just a ploy to gain more control of the citizens of this planet.
From cameras to microchips, technology has made the world a much smaller place. Some say it is ok to give up some of your liberty in order to be safe, while others say it crosses the line on privacy and ones personal freedom. However, remember this, giving up your liberty only brings you tyranny, and never gives you security! In addition, usually when you give something away, you almost never get it back!
Moreover, just like George Orwell’s 1984 “Big Brother is watching”.
Prophetic insight or just hype? In 1949, George Orwell wrote his masterpiece “1984”. It was a glimpse into what the future might be like. A future where a tyrannical police state ruled and big brother watched your every move. A future where even thought was policed and punished when not in line with big brother. With the way the world is going, many would say we are living in an “Orwellian State” right now.
Cameras have been going up in Canada, the United States, Spain and Europe with alarming speed, with Great Britain holding the record with over 4.2 million closed circuit television cameras. All in the name of security right? Or is it?
The London attack of 7/7 showed us that the average person that walks the streets in London has their picture taken up to 300 times daily. Yet it seems they are no more secure today, in fact, the cameras had no effect on the first attack of the Underground.
According to EPIC (Electronic Privacy Intelligence Center), cameras were used to watch public protest at America’s Capital building, Including the “Million Man March, Right to Life rallies, The World Bank/International Monetary Fund protest and more.
For the past few years, Wal-Mart has kept track of customer debit and credit card purchases made at their stores and in 2006 hope to have all of their stores set up with R.F.I.D. technology (Radio Frequency Identification). Therefore, this means before any items can be sold in their stores, they will have to have the R.F.I.D. tags incorporated into them.
Imbedded microchips, one of the newest forms of tracking technology are on the rise, the Baja Beach Club in Spain offers its patrons a unique club with dancing and poolside bars, it is a very attractive hot spot for the younger crowd; it is the first club in the world that offers you the veri-chip. By using an integrated chip, their VIPS can identify themselves and pay for drinks without showing any identification.
The chip, about the size of a grain of rice is injected under the skin using a large syringe; it will hold all the information about the member including their bank account. Once scanned, using a scanning device similar to those in the grocery stores, the members purchase is automatically deducted from their bank account.
In the United States, California and Oregon are experimenting with transponders placed into automobiles to test for a new mileage tax. New meters are going into homes to monitor electric and water usage. During peak usage hours, customers will be charged a higher rate.
The United States Congress overwhelmingly passed “the Real I.D. Act” (a national I.D. card) to be in place by 2008. In order to obtain a drivers license you will be required to have the following, a birth certificate, social security card, another picture I.D., proof of residence( electric bill, phone bill) and for security purposes, a biometric signature such as a finger print or retina scan.
The Transportation Security Administration proposed the trial use of Backscatter X-Ray machines for passenger screening at several U.S. airports. A high-energy beam will scan across the person’s body creating a high-resolution image, which will be mainly of the surface of the person or object scanned. Individuals will be seen however as they were nude as they stand in front of the device.
Going to vacation spots like Walt Disney World, Sea world and even the Statue of Liberty require biometric fingerprint scanning to enter. Cameras on a daily basis are monitoring everyone from children in school to people shopping and living their daily lives. The question I ask is, does this make us any safer today, or is it just a ploy to gain more control of the citizens of this planet.
From cameras to microchips, technology has made the world a much smaller place. Some say it is ok to give up some of your liberty in order to be safe, while others say it crosses the line on privacy and ones personal freedom. However, remember this, giving up your liberty only brings you tyranny, and never gives you security! In addition, usually when you give something away, you almost never get it back!
Moreover, just like George Orwell’s 1984 “Big Brother is watching”.
