The document discusses surveillance and its portrayal in George Orwell's novel "1984". It covers several key topics: - Orwell depicted pervasive surveillance in the novel, both overt surveillance where people know they are being watched and self-censor, as well as covert surveillance. - Technologies mentioned in the novel include telescreens, helicopters, and weapons, but their description is brief and not the main focus. - Parallels are drawn between the surveillance in the novel and modern surveillance capabilities and issues, such as mass data collection by governments.

1. The Dangers of
Surveillance in
Context of Novel
"1984"

2. Name: Drashti Joshi
Roll No: 05 Enrolment
Number: 4069206420220016
Sem: 2 [M.A.] Batch: 2022-2024
Paper Number: 107 Paper Code: 22400
Paper Name: The Twentieth century literature: from world war-2 to the End
of the Century.
submitted To: Smt S.B.Gardi, Department of English, M.K.B.U.
Dated On: 12-03-202 3 E-Mail:

3. Points to Ponder
Introduction of
author
Introduction of
novel
The Dangers Of
Surveillance
BB is
Watching
Scandal of
Pegasus Technologies in
1984

4. Introduction of author
-Born: 25 June 1903, Motihari
-Died: 21 January 1950, University College Hospital, London, United Kingdom
-Full name: Eric Arthur Blair
-Spouse: Sonia Orwell (m. 1949–1950), Eileen Blair (m. 1936–1945)
-Education: Eton College (1917–1921), Wellington College (1917–1917), St
Cyprian's School (1911–1917)
-Awards: Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, Retro Hugo Award for Best Novella
-Nationality: British, English
-George Orwell, pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair
-His last book, Nineteen Eighty-four (1949), a novel he wrote as a warning after
years of brooding on the twin menaces of Nazism and Stalinism. The novel is set
in an imaginary future in which the world is dominated by three perpetually
warring totalitarian police states.

5. Introduction of novel
-Nineteen Eighty-Four (also published as 1984) is a dystopian social science fiction
novel and cautionary tale by English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June
1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime.
Thematically, it centres on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance and
repressive regimentation of people and behaviours within society.Orwell, a democratic
socialist, modelled the authoritarian state in the novel on Stalinist Russia and Nazi
Germany. More broadly, the novel examines the role of truth and facts within societies
and the ways in which they can be manipulated.
-Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-four as a warning after years of brooding on the twin
menaces of Nazism and Stalinism. Its depiction of a state where daring to think
differently is rewarded with torture, where people are monitored every second of the
day, and where party propaganda trumps free speech and thought is a sobering
reminder of the evils of unaccountable governments. Winston is the symbol of the
values of civilized life, and his defeat is a poignant reminder of the vulnerability of such
values in the midst of all-powerful states.

6. According to Michael Yeo..
-surveillance is pervasive in the novel. Instances of
surveillances divide into two main kinds: panoptical and
surreptitious. Panoptical surveillance is interiorised self-
surveillance. In the belief that one is under surveillance, one
censors oneself so as to avoid unorthodoxy, the detection of
which would be detrimental. Surreptitious surveillance works
on the opposite belief: believing that one is in a private space
not under surveillance, one is disinhibited and acts and
thinks freely, thus making it possible for an unsuspected spy
to detect what one really believes.(Yeo, Michael)
The Dangers Of Surveillance

7. According to Michael Yeo..
-surveillance in Nineteen Eighty-Four is expressed in the
following passage:
There was of course no way of knowing whether you were
being watched at any given moment . . .You had to live—did
live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that
every sound you made was overheard, and except in darkness,
every movement scrutinized.(Orwell, George. (2003))
-In this assumption, Winston self-censors and plays,for the
camera, pretending to believe and think what he is supposed to
and hiding his true thoughts and beliefs. (Yeo, Michael)

8. According to Neil M. Richards:
We know that governments have been buying and borrowing
private-sector databases, and we recently learned that the
National Security Agency (NSA) has been building a massive
data and supercomputing center in Utah, apparently with the
goal of intercepting and storing much of the world’s Internet
communications for decryption and analysis.(Richards, Neil M)
-Communications and bank records sought under the ECPA
and the RFPA are protected by the additional requirement that
the FBI certify that “such an investigation of a United States
person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities
protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the
United States.”(Richards, Neil M)
continue..

9. BB is Watching:
The phrase “Big Brother Is Watching You”
tends to be associated with surveillance.
However, it is also a piece of propaganda. The
reader is first introduced to surveillance not as
an instance of actual surveillance but of
propaganda about surveillance, propagating
the belief necessary for panoptic surveillance.
As he enters the hallway of his apartment,
Winston is confronted by a,large coloured
poster featuring the “ruggedly handsome” face
of “a man of about forty-five. (Yeo, Michael)

10. Scandal of Pegasus
The Pegasus spyware scandal has freshened memories of the scary revelations
made by Edward Snowden surrounding mass surveillance of US citizens by the
government. An international collaboration of 17 media organisations has
revealed that at least 300 Indian citizens became potential targets of the Israeli
spyware, Pegasus. At least 10 of these alleged targets have given positive reports
in an independent forensic test conducted by Amnesty International.(Sharma,
Shreyam)
The suggestion of an individually targeted surveillance system and its real time
execution is a nerve-racking threat to the fundamental right to privacy and lawful
subsistence of the right to free speech and expression under Articles 19 and 21 of
the Indian Constitution. Surveillance on all four pillars of this democracy — the
executive, judiciary, legislature and the media — cannot be ignored. If there is
even an iota of truth in these allegations, contrary to what the newly appointed IT
Minister has to say, we are on the list of totalitarians and semi-authoritarian
governments using this technology to thrive a surveillance State.(Sharma, Shreyam)

11. (“Pegasus Row | Supreme Court-Appointed Panel To Probe Pegasus Snooping Row”)

12. The argument of “I have nothing to hide” is also problematic and hollow given
the fact that a large number of people chose to self-censor in the face of
increasing clampdowns on dissenting citizens. Surveillance leads to identification
of dissenters, which prompts measures such as banning of the social accounts,
slapping of security legislations such as the UAPA and the NSA without any legal
basis (evident by the abysmally low conviction rates).(Sharma, Shreyam)
The use of Facial Recognition Technology to capture facial data by the Delhi
Police to file sedition charges against anti-CAA protesters is a mockery of privacy
with its brazen 98 percent failure rate and in the absence of any legal framework
on artificial intelligence. The new Information Technology (Intermediary
Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 have also been flagged by
the UN Special Rapporteurs for having serious implications on the right to
freedom of expression and privacy by virtue of its “vague and arbitrary”
language. Media organisations are threatened by way of IT raids as reports of
the Income Tax officials snooping into editorial department of Dainik Bhaskar
Group emerge. Freelance writers and journalists are met with an unending trail
of irrelevant charges.(Sharma, Shreyam)
https://www.ndtv.com/topic/pegasus-snooping-scandal

13. While the theoretical discussion of technology has an important role in the novel, the
mention of actual technologies is cursory at best, usually being limited to one or two
sentences. The major technologies dealt with are the telescreen, helicopters, the Floating
Fortresses, the construction of the ministry buildings, the rocket bomb, atomic weapons,
instruments of interrogation, speak writes, novel writing machines, versificators,
pneumatic tubes, and artificial insemination. Each of these developments contributes to
the basic picture which is drawn in the book. (Luegenbiehl, Heinz C.)
-One could raise these and other questions about Orwell's vision. This would, however,
only reinforce the popularized misinterpretation of his work. Now we do have computers,
we do have better instruments for mind control, we do have improved versions of his
weaponry, we do have artificial insemination of human beings. But that would be to miss
the basic issue, which is for Orwell the total control of the individual's life through the
elimination of privacy and through physical deprivation. This thesis is only partially based
on the existence of technological developments. There are telescreens, but they are only
located in the homes of Party members and in public places frequented by them. There
are entire sections of the city in which they are absent. (Luegenbiehl, Heinz C.)
Technologies in 1984

14. “1984 and The Present”
However, independently of Orwell's claim, it must at least briefly be
asked whether or not his vision of society might yet be compatible
with a technologically advanced society, whether he was wrong
about the leveling ability of technology. Orwell's point is that the
growth of technology in Oceania must be artificially restricted,
because if it is not, then wealth will no longer create a distinction
between people, and their leisure time will allow them to begin
thinking for themselves. (Luegenbiehl, Heinz C.)
-Ultimately, unrest among those excluded from the possession of
power will result in the overthrow of the existing social structure.
The possibility will still exist, but in an unstable form. Both the Party
and the opposition have in effect adopted the premise that when
basic needs are not fully met, people will not have the will or the
energy to think about rebelling against the status quo. This is why it
is not necessary to watch the proles. (Luegenbiehl, Heinz C.)

15. Social Dilemma(2022)
-The Social Dilemma is a 2020 American docudrama film directed by Jeff Orlowski and
written by Orlowski, Davis Coombe, and Vickie Curtis. The documentary examines how
social media's design nurtures addiction to maximize profit, and its ability to manipulate
people's views, emotions, and behavior and spread conspiracy theories and disinformation.
The film also examines social media's effect on mental health, in particular, the mental
health of adolescents and rising teen suicide rates.
-The film features interviews with many former employees of social media companies
along with academic researchers. Some of the interviews qualify that social media
platforms and big tech companies have provided some positive change for society as well.
The interviewees discuss social media's role in political polarization in the United States
and the influence that algorithmic advertising has had on political radicalization. The film
also examines how social media platforms have impacted the spread of fake news, and
how governments have used social media as a tool for propaganda. These interviews are
presented alongside scripted dramatizations of a teenager's social media addiction. These
dramatizations draw attention to the rising concern of the radicalization of youth on the
internet.(Orlowski)

16. citation
Luegenbiehl, Heinz C. “1984 and the Power of Technology.” Social Theory and
Practice, vol. 10, no. 3, 1984, pp. 289–300. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23556567. Accessed 11 Mar. 2023.
Orlowski, Jeff, director. The Social Dilemma. 2022,
https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81254224. Accessed 11 March 2023.
Orwell, George. (2003). Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Penguin Books.
“Pegasus Row | Supreme Court-Appointed Panel To Probe Pegasus Snooping Row.”
NDTV.com, 23 September 2021, https://www.ndtv.com/video/news/the-
news/pegasus-row-supreme-court-appointed-panel-to-probe-pegasus-snooping-
row-602895. Accessed 12 March 2023.

17. citation
Richards, Neil M.“The Dangers Of Surveillance.” Harvard Law Review,
https://harvardlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/vol126_richards.pdf.
Accessed 11 March 2023.
Sharma, Shreyam. “Pegasus scandal shows we are living in George Orwell's
1984.” ThePrint, 28 July 2021, https://theprint.in/campus-voice/pegasus-
scandal-shows-we-are-living-in-george-orwells-1984/704434/. Accessed 11
March 2023.
Yeo, Michael. (2010). Propaganda and Surveillance in George Orwell’s
Nineteen Eighty-Four: Two Sides of the Same Coin. Global Media Journal :
Canadian Edition. 3.