1984 Technology

Have you ever felt like your being spied on your phone, being watched through your camera or heared on your microphone on your phone? Privacy is a big issue in the United States of America today since mostly everyone has a mobile phone or any other electronic devices, hackers or even the government could assess our personal lives. When comparing the book 1984 by George Orwell to today, society face some of the same privacy issues as in Orwell book. By looking at Iphones and one of their new unique feature, one can see how our technology faces major privacy issues in such as those presented in 1984.

In society today most people believe when buying a mobile phone that you want a trustworthy and safe phone like an IPhone. However, everyone has a different taste in phones weather it based on the brand name of the phone or the feature the phone comes with. From the source ,” Is Android or IPhone the better smartphone?,” the author has tallied up which phone is better by comparing each of the phones features. According to the Lifewire article by Sam Costello,” The decision of whether to buy an iPhone or Android phone isn’t as simple as tallying up the winners above and choosing the phone that won more categories (but for those counting, it's 8-6 for the iPhone, plus 5 ties).” Out of the all the categories on the article the Iphone won operating system compatibility, app with selection and control, gaming, integration with other devices (such as smartwatches and smart televisions), support system for phones, being able to uninstall preinstalled apps, security, and resale value. To help understand what the Iphone operating system is Lifewire has provide information based on their article ,”What is a Mobile Operating System,” In the article by Priya Viswanathan she states that, “The mobile operating system is a set of data and programs that runs on a mobile device. It manages the hardware and makes it possible for smartphones, tablets, and wearables to run apps.“ The Iphone has better security than Androids proving that Iphones are more trustworthy than androids. Even though Iphone won the tallie there was 5 ties overall which include the categories hardware, GPS navigation systems, networking, carriers, and user experience. Nonetheless its the customer's choice of which phone would be best but in looking at Iphone features has compared to android it is the more superior phone. With Iphone receiving more updates in their system than Android, Iphone gets more qualities add to it such as the new face recognition.

On Thursday September 12, 2017 Apple resealed the IPhone X with one of its brand new features to the Iphone which was face recognition, with this new feature society will now be able to unlock their phones by just looking at their camara. This a really cool and new feature to be able to unlock your phone instead of a boring password. Some people one however the other hand feel that is new feature is invading their privacy in a way almost that is causing a paranoida that maybe our phone is spying on us. However according to article, “Apples FaceId could be a powerful tool for mass spying”, by Jake Laperruque he writes that,” But FaceID should create fear about another form of government surveillance: mass scans to identify individuals based on face profiles. Law enforcement is rapidly increasing use of facial recognition; one in two American adults are already enrolled in a law enforcement facial recognition network, and at least one in four police departments have the capacity to run face recognition searches.” Laperruque is saying that the face recognition on Iphones is something that we need to be afraid of because the government and the law enforcement could use our faces from the cameras of our phone without contacting us for it first, it's an invasion of privacy. With it being an invasion of privacy it would be breaking the fourth amendment of the United States of America which states,”The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. “ The fourth amendment protects our privacy it state that policemen or any official must have a warrant before searching a person's home or otherwise it is breaking the law that our government wrote.However in 1984 government can rewrite their laws and make it seemed like the law before never happened at all.

With now being able to see how some of Iphones features present worry in how the government may be spying on us through our phones we can compare this to the book 1984. In the book 1984, since the government has all the power in the book with an extreme level of communism, no one has privacy at all in the book. From seeing in the eyes of Winston (the main character of 1984) we can see how in his daily life he lives a live where the government watches his every move. In chapter one, when he gets to Victory Mansions where he lives he see all of this poster, all the same that says,” BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” The poster almost cause a paranoia that you are being watched. This is very similar to the paranoia people feel about Iphone’s face recognition. That even though you are unlocking your phone with your face now the government or hackers now have access to your face and can do anything they desider with it. This produces a really uneasy feeling that your face could be used by hackers to get anything they want but using you face to unlock everything because your face could now be linked with all of your passwords. In 1984 to once Winston gets to his flat in Victory Mansions he hears,” In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs, hovered for an instant like a bluebottle, and darted away again with a curving flight. It was the police patrol, snooping into people’s windows.” Image having the police today doing this, spying on you without a warrant first to look through your home that is basically what is happening with Iphones face recognition today. The government could be looking at you through your phone while you are unlocking your phone.

In conclusion we should be wary about our privacy because one day we could end up like Winston in 1984 and have no privacy at all. Thank to some of our laws today like the fourth amendment we are protected a little. However, we should be aware of our technology today like our, Iphones and be ready for what other new features my come and could also provide big privacy issues, knowing that we are grateful to live in a world that is not like 1984 where we have no privacy and the government is watching our every move.

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