This past weekend, my parents made a trip to Toronto. Seeing as the distance between Ottawa and Toronto is fairly close, they decided to travel by car. After a nice weekend getaway, on the way back, my mother spotted a airplane overhead in the sky. Twenty minutes later, my parents were stopped by a policeman. The police handed over a speeding ticket and claimed that my parents had been going around 140 km/h twenty minutes earlier. When my parents questioned the claim, the police responded that they had been caught by the airplane overhead them. My parents were in complete shock. It was not the first time they had received a speeding ticket, yet it was the first time they had ever heard about surveillance in the sky. Without the slightest idea that this even existed, my parents came home and told me the event still in utter shock.
Upon hearing their story, it made me wonder the rate of which technology is progressing in the world. It reminded of a famous novel written by George Orwell, titled 1984. The novel expresses how the world will transform in the future; a life without privacy where the government is constantly watching over you. There is no doubt that speeding can be very dangerous and it is important to regulate such activities, yet the manner in which it is done must be taken into consideration. It scared my parents when they found out they had been watched from an airplane for over 20 minutes. Is George Orwell's predication really coming true? Is the government really turning into a 24/7 surveillance team? Finally we must ask, what comes next? How far is too far?
Today, hidden surveillance cameras are more common around the world than most of us even realize. They can be found in banks, bus stops, department stores, restaurants, households, ATM machines, even on regular street corners. England, for instance, is known to be one of countries with the most surveillance. All over the streets of London, CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) cameras are watching everyone's daily lives, supposedly for the better of society. According to an article written in the London Evening Standard, Britain has a staggering 4.2million CCTV cameras, which works to one for every 14 people in the country. It has been calculated that each person is caught on camera an average of 300 times daily. The article claims that the fictional nightmare written about in the novel 1984, has become a frightening reality. The frightening aspect of this reality, is that this is just the beginning. Technology will unquestioningly progress and it seems the government is showing no signs of slowing down. What frightens me is the idea if such technology is wrongfully put into the wrong hands, the outcome may be disastrous. The world should be a place where although people feel safe, they also feel comfortable. Within society there lies criminals, yet not every one is of guilty nature and therefore they should not be treated like so. People have the right to their own privacy, a right which is currently being taken away from them. Let us learn from what happened in the novel of 1984, and may that fictional story stay fictional and not become our reality.
Today, hidden surveillance cameras are more common around the world than most of us even realize. They can be found in banks, bus stops, department stores, restaurants, households, ATM machines, even on regular street corners. England, for instance, is known to be one of countries with the most surveillance. All over the streets of London, CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) cameras are watching everyone's daily lives, supposedly for the better of society. According to an article written in the London Evening Standard, Britain has a staggering 4.2million CCTV cameras, which works to one for every 14 people in the country. It has been calculated that each person is caught on camera an average of 300 times daily. The article claims that the fictional nightmare written about in the novel 1984, has become a frightening reality. The frightening aspect of this reality, is that this is just the beginning. Technology will unquestioningly progress and it seems the government is showing no signs of slowing down. What frightens me is the idea if such technology is wrongfully put into the wrong hands, the outcome may be disastrous. The world should be a place where although people feel safe, they also feel comfortable. Within society there lies criminals, yet not every one is of guilty nature and therefore they should not be treated like so. People have the right to their own privacy, a right which is currently being taken away from them. Let us learn from what happened in the novel of 1984, and may that fictional story stay fictional and not become our reality.
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