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Big Brother has always been around

The shadowy and ominous term that is 'Big Brother' has always been around us in some form or another. We have always been watched in our daily lives by someone or something, and as technology develops, then the means for keeping tabs on the population become more and more advanced. However, the question that must be asked is this: when and where will it end? Can it end? Or are we destined to end up like Winston Smith in the novel, 1984 by George Orwell?

Big Brother is watching and the faceless, nameless people have tools at their disposal to use: cameras on the streets in our towns and cities , tracking our movements as we travel between homes and stores; satellites in the skies which are able to zoom in to an extremely detailed level; databases holding our personal information, and able to be accessed by countless agencies and government departments for whatever purpose they deem necessary; internet spybots watching you every move online, at work and at home, compiling data and building up into a profile of your activities. Privacy is becoming less and less of a given, and more like a luxury that has to be carefully cultivated.

Governments are retaining information, only releasing what they wish people to know - control and flow of information, control of the population, control of our lives, national ID cards and databases holding information on the population. These were all envisioned by George Orwell in 1948 (yes, when he wrote the novel, he flipped the numbers for the title!) and are still pertinent today.

Some things are necessary, and control of the insurgents in the war-torn Afghan region is an important part in winning the war against terrorism - but we have to be careful in giving more of the toys used in this program to Big Brother. Because, once the horse has bolted, there's no point in shutting the stable door.