Telescreen
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Telescreens are featured in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. They are television and security camera-like devices used by the ruling Party in Oceania to keep its subjects under constant surveillance, thus eliminating the chance of secret conspiracies against Oceania. All members of the Inner Party and Outer Party and a few proletarian settings have telescreens.
Certain privileged members of the Inner Party, such as O'Brien, have the permission to turn their telescreens off and on and off again, but even they seem to abide by an unwritten rule that the screens can only be off for a half-hour at a time. The screens are monitored by the Thought Police. However, it is never made explicitly clear how many screens are monitored at once, or the precise criteria for monitoring a given screen, if any (although we do see that during an exercise program that Winston takes part in every morning, the instructor can see him, meaning telescreens are possibly a variant of video phones). The telescreens are incredibly sensitive, and can pick up a heartbeat. As Winston describes, "...even a back could be revealing..."
Telescreens, in addition to being surveillance devices, are also the equivalent of televisions (hence the name), regularly broadcasting false news reports about Oceania's military victories, economic achievements, spirited renditions of the national anthem to heighten patriotism, and Two Minutes Hate, which is a two-minute film of Emmanuel Goldstein's wishes for freedom of speech and press, which the citizens have been trained to disagree with, thus allowing them an opportunity to direct their subconscious hatred of Big Brother to Goldstein, whom they think is the real enemy. Much of the telescreen programs are given in Newspeak.
[edit] Real-life technology
In recent weeks, Google has been reported to be developing software which would "use a personal computer's embedded microphone to listen in on conversations and television content."<ref>"Google to Use PC Microphones to Listen In?"</ref> Since the reports came out, Google has been accused of creating software which would be used to spy on its users, which was the main function of the telescreens. In addition, many people have speculated that Google's rumored "Big Brother" software will be upgraded to enable visual surveillance when embedded webcams become standard in all new personal computers; all new Apple iMacs, MacBook Pros, and MacBooks sold since late 2005 already come with embedded iSight webcams.<ref>"Google: Turning PCs into telescreens and conning the world into switching to Linux"</ref>
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
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| Nineteen Eighty-Four | |
|---|---|
| By George Orwell | |
| Characters | Winston Smith | Julia | O'Brien | Big Brother | Emmanuel Goldstein |
| Places | Oceania | Eastasia | Eurasia | Airstrip One | Room 101 |
| Classes | Inner Party | Outer Party | Proles |
| Ministries | Ministry of Love | Ministry of Peace | Ministry of Plenty | Ministry of Truth |
| Concepts | Ingsoc | Newspeak | Doublethink | Goodthink | Crimestop Two plus two | Thoughtcrime | Prolefeed | Prolesec |
| Miscellaneous | Thought Police | Telescreen | Memory hole | The Book Newspeak words | Two Minutes Hate | Hate week |
| Other media | 1956 film | 1984 film | 1953 TV programme | 1954 TV programme Opera | 1985 | Me and the Big Guy |
