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There must be equilibrium between rights and security for society to function properly. Basically, this relationship between rights and security is like a happily married couple, and [|the key to a perfectly, happily married couple] is a balance in power between spouses. When one spouse becomes controlling of the other, happiness is sacrificed and eventually a separation or divorce occurs, resulting in the loss of each other. Just like matrimony, when security begins to dominate society more and more, the people’s rights are eventually lost and overshadowed by security. This awful marriage occurs in both __Little Brother__ and __1984__. In __[|1984]__ by [|George Orwell], Winston, the protagonist, little by little challenges the all-controlling, militaristic government led by Big Brother that prohibits all thought and action against the government and forces complete loyalty, but he is eventually brainwashed into love of Big Brother. In [|Little Brother] by [|Corey Doctorow] Marcus is a techno-geek living in San Francisco who is arrested by the DHS after a terrorist group bombs the Bay Bridge. Once Marcus is released, he avenges his arrest by baffling the DHS, who controls every aspect of the citizens’ lives, with the Xnet. The DHS is later discontinued after the wrongs they committed are exposed. In planet Earth’s evolution from George Orwell’s __1984__ to Corey Doctorow’s __Little Brother__, society has learned to question technology’s ability to enhance and improve security for the sake of their rights, but has not yet realized how to fully keep a healthy balance between security and rights; until it is realized that society is heading for a world with many limitations and few privileges.

In both books technology deceptively makes security seem reliable, but both Marcus and Winston learn to question technology’s true purpose. During a class discussion about a new camera placed in the front of the classroom, Marcus inquires about the purpose of the camera. After Charles, the class’s teacher pet, said, ”Putting cameras in makes us safe, which makes us less afraid” (Doctorow 93), Marcus responds with, “Safe from what?... If a suicide bomber rushed in here and blew us all up-” (Doctorow 93). Marcus doesn’t see the reason for the camera but begins to realize that it is used to watch the students, which can be a violation of their rights. In __1984__, the [|telescreens] are placed in every room to watch over every citizen to make sure that they are not doing anything against the government law. To rebel against this, Winston writes in his diary in a little alcove where the telescreen cannot see. Winston does this because he knows that the government is stripping him of his individual rights instead of protecting him, which is what the government wants him to think. In __Little Brother__ the DHS implemented very many security measures to prevent another terrorist attack against San Francisco, but Marcus recognizes that all these new extra precautions are harmful instead of securing. After being asked about whether the DHS is successful, Marcus responded, “If it’s the DHS’s job to keep us safe, they’re failing. All the crap they’ve done, none of it would stop the bridge from being blown up again. Tracing us around the city? Taking away our freedom? Making us suspicious of each other, turning us against each other? Calling dissenters traitors? The point of terrorism is to terrify us. The DHS terrifies me” (Doctorow 237). In this quote Marcus questions whether the DHS is helping the citizens of San Francisco and providing security or if the DHS is actually helping the terrorists by creating more fear and taking away rights. From both books society has learned to question whether the government is providing security, or if the technology used is actually taking away their rights.

After reading __1984__ and __Little Brother__, society has not learned to keep a beneficial relationship between security and rights. While technology is improving and advancing, so is security. This means that security is increasing more and more, resulting in the loss of rights. Also, the higher security many times does not even succeed in its goal. A major example of this today is that the TSA, who provides airport security, can take[| very detailed photos] to check for bombs in airports. Mr. Meyer said, “These images are basically a 360 degree full naked picture of your body.” Mr. Meyer also said, “The measures taken failed 9 out of 10 times in an airport security test.” These photos are taken without the person’s consent, which raises major questions about whether an individual’s rights should be endangered for such high security steps taking place when they don’t work most of the time. In __Little Brother__ a similar debate occurs about loss of rights for the security. Marcus’s dad told Marcus that he was glad the government had stepped up security saying, “…why shouldn’t the cops be allowed to mine your social network to figure out if you’re hanging out with gangbangers and terrorists?” (Doctorow 138). Marcus responds, “Because it’s an invasion of my privacy! Taking away our privacy isn’t catching terrorists: it’s just inconveniencing normal people…Where are the terrorists they’ve caught?” (Doctorow 138). This discussion perfectly exemplifies how protection increases against terrorists limiting the people’s rights, but the protection is actually turning innocent people into criminals and the true terrorists slip by the security intended for them. Another strong example of how society is not keeping a healthy balance between security and rights takes place in __Little Brother__. To show that the government was very wrong in placing all the new restricting precautions, many people united at a concert. The police ended up dispersing the crowds and arresting many of the attendees for supposedly endangering fellow citizens. In response to a student calling the attendees terrorists, Marcus said, “They showed that universal surveillance was more dangerous than terrorism. Look at what happened in the park last weekend. Those people were dancing and listening to music. How is that terrorism?” (Doctorow 210). Marcus proves that the government restrained rights by arresting innocent people in hopes of providing safety within the country. The government actually created more chaos by breaking up the concert when they had intended to stop terrorism. Society must learn to keep a healthy balance between rights and security, or else one of the two will be lost.

Society is heading towards a world where the government completely controls every aspect of life so that the public can feel secure, which means their rights and privileges will be lost. If technology keeps getting more sophisticated and the government keeps using these technological advancements to further “keep an eye” on security and the well-being of the nation, society is heading for a world similar to Winston’s in __1984__. In Winston’s world, life is completely controlled by the government and there is no room for individualism. This resulted because the people felt insecure and elected a government that would provide complete security no matter what rights they violated. It eventually came to where the citizens had no rights at all. Society could also eventually come to a world where there are no rights and the government controls everything if society doesn’t keep a healthy balance between rights and security. Another sign pointing towards this kind of social order is a more recent case where the government steps way over the line to reach security. In this recent case, a school district in Pennsylvania [|used students’ web cams to spy on them at home and school]. A child was disciplined for bad behavior at home. This is a major violation of constitutional rights. This case is a great example of where the world is heading. In __Little Brother__ there is another major example showing how society is coming to a world without rights. Coming home from work, Marcus’s dad was pulled over, searched, and questioned twice because which took an extra three hours to get home. He was pulled over because the DHS found it suspicious that he was traveling to so many different places for his work. Even though Marcus’s dad’s rights were violated, he still was thankful for what the DHS was doing. He said, “They’ll catch every alimony cheat, every dope dealer, every dirtbag and every terrorist. You just wait. This could be the best thing that ever happened to this country” (Doctorow 137). Just like Marcus’s dad, many people are willing to risk their rights for any sense of security. If everyone is willing to lose their rights, there is no way to stop society from becoming a society just like __1984__’s society. Assuming that security measures will increase, the world is heading where all citizens are watched at all times, just like the telescreens in __1984__. If society doesn’t do something to stop the increasing security measures, all rights will be gone and life will be like the life lived by Winston in __1984__ and Marcus in __Little Brother__.

In conclusion, both __1984__ and __Little Brother__ showed society is heading towards a world with few rights and many security measures if society doesn’t keep questioning technology’s ability to improve security and keep a healthy balance between security and rights. When the society is in illusion that they should give up their rights for their own sense of security, they must ask themselves whether security or rights is more important. When the society finds that their government is becoming to controlling, they must [|rebel]. After reading __Little Brother__ and __1984__, society is much better off when rights are not sacrificed for security. Hopefully in the future, society will understand and manipulate technology better so that there can be security, but rights are not sacrificed for it.

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