Persuasive Essay:Privacy and the Invasion of “Big Brother”Although there are many things in today’s world which effect the way in which I live and the way I will live, the issue that most concerns me is that of privacy and the invasion of “Big Brother. George Orwell was the first to put these concerns onto paper in his book “1984”. In his book, Orwell talked about the invasion of government into our lives, the effect that it would have on our freedom and it’s reprocusions in everyday life. He focused on the fact that we may someday have to live with cameras around evey courner and “Big Brother” constantly looking over our shoulder.
Although compared to Orwell’s prediction of life in 1984 we are realativly free of “Big Brother”, everyday I see more invasion of privacy, from security cameras at school to placing tracking devices in cars. An excelent example is an “incedent” I was recently involved with at Boulder High School (BHS). It was about a week befor the seniors would graduate and the pranks began to fly. Freshman after freshman was creeked by various seniors. This ritual has usally been accepted by the studentbody and facualty as just kids being kids but not this year.
This year the assitant princeapals had taken it upon themselves to put an end the hazings with the 13 brand new security system and a sophisticated “control center” in the office (costs exceeded $200,000). Upperclassman were being sent to the office in droves and some of the hazing slowed down. But then one day I was down by the creek coming back from lunch with friends, and we saw three freshman being creeked. This has become a common scene at BHS so we simply gave a passing glance and continued on to class. By the end of the day we all wound up in the office.
We spent over two hours there during which our backpacks and lockers were searched. Apparently the had gotten a glimpse of us (and not the actual perpotrators) on the cameras. It took the last two weeks of school of us comming down to the office on a daily basses, missing hours of class, and calls from parents befor the facualty would talk to us. We eventually convinced them not to suspend us but it was only by going to the princeapal that the school admitted its mistake and out records were expunged.
Many people and organizations have voiced opnions on the issue of security cameras and there have been many proposed solutions. The only possible solution I see working is to remove the cameras from place owned by the government. I fell that this not only address the problem of privacy but also that of the cost. This cost includes equipment, installation, mainteance, and the expense of hiring someone to monitor the cameras. Words/ Pages : 475 / 24
