Big Brother is watching you

As time goes by, we are getting more and more watched. There are many different kinds of surveillance, and probably as many reasons for them to exist. The question is; who are watching us, and for which purposes?

Our ancestors has fought very hard for our democracy. Therefore it is something we must protect.The big issue to sort out is whether the surveillance is a threat to democracy and the free society. I have thought long and carefully listing both advantages as well as disadvantages, and come to the conclusion that there are very few negative sides of this phenomenon.

The first kind of surveillance I come to think about is the monitoring of all e-mails, text messages and phone calls we make. At first thought I found this quite disturbing, since I would prefer to keep my messages private, but after giving it some time I have reconsidered. I can perfectly understand why this kind of surveillance is needed and now I understand that there are no actual persons going through my e-mails. A computer sort out messages based on a list of high risk keywords, and later those messages are read by employees, who decide whether they need to take action or not.

The next kind is the surveillancecameras. You can find them almost everywhere. In a way this can feel disturbing, but there are many advantages. If there are cameras monitoring public areas in the cities, I believe, less crimes will be committed, since there is a good chance for the police to catch the criminals caught on tape.

I know that since I pose no threat to anyone, my e-mails are not interesting at all. Therefore if this method can catch terrorists or other criminals, I am very happy to pay the price.