IF YOU FEEL LIKE GEORGE ORWELL IS LOOKING OVER YOUR SHOULDER, YOU’RE RIGHT

George Orwell in his novel, 1984, actually described the Internet. This comes from Jackie Jura’s site, Orwell Today. One of the characters says to Winston, the book’s protagonist, “Every day I talk over the telescreen with people in Melbourne and Durban and Washington. The whole thing is a miracle of co-ordination.” The telescreen, of course, was the way Big Brother monitored the citizens of the fictional city, Oceania. For some reason, Orwell eliminated this from his final draft when 1984 was published in 1948. The Bush administration, however, has seen fit to proceed with its plan for Internet surveillance, requiring Web sites to retain records of your surfing activity. See article. The intent is to investigate terrorism, child pornography, and other crimes. What’s left? Sounds like an open door to me for AG Gonzales to swoop in and spy on innocent Americans again. The Bush bunch has often used terrorism and child pornography to get what it wants, but now expands that to “other” crimes. That could include anything from murder to shoplifting. Orwell could never have known how foreseeable was his slogan: “Big Brother is Watching You.”