Argumentative Essay On 1984 By George Orwell

557 Words3 Pages
Marissa Mailhot Period 2 April 30, 2013 1984 Essay In George Orwell’s classic 1984, it entails many dystopian characteristics including propaganda, restriction of freedoms, citizens fearing the outside world, conformity, etc. however the concept that citizens are under constant surveillance is the focal point of the article chosen that correlates with the book. The article “AT&T getting secret immunity from wiretapping laws for government surveillance” by Joshua Kopstein discusses the government lending a helping hand to cell phone companies, AT&T in particular and how they will and have already began wiretapping nationwide In the first sentence of the article, it states “the US department of Justice is secretly helping AT&T…show more content…
Last paragraph, first sentence, the article reads, “AT&T, Verizon, and other service providers have unsurprisingly expressed their support for CISPA” which is the key to giving these companies the green light to proceed with these programs to wiretap. These service provider companies are much like the four ministries in 1984. Winston explains that there were “four ministries between which the entire apparatus of government was divided” (pg 4). These ministries are operated by the government and these service providers evading the law results in the government having control over them. If these companies weren’t being government run in some form or another, there would be no immunity to these laws. Nobody else has immunity, thus there has to be a correlation just like the one with the ministries and government in 1984. To sum of the findings of this article, the facts are that these service providers are essentially getting away with breaking the law; however it’s not at the government’s expense, like in the book it’s at the people’s expense, ours. This concept of constant surveillance is the epitome of what this country doesn’t stand for. It’s the “land of the free” not the land of the
Open Document