Commenting on the text «I can see you» (Школьные сочинения)

Do you remember there was a time when we could drive a few miles over the speed limit, go at a red light if no one was around or jaywalk across the street? The author of the article is confident that these times has sank into oblivion, unfortunately.

The article commented upon is taken from a British newspaper. I found the title «I can see you» of low predictability, but the very first paragraph gives a clear idea that the text is going to be about ways we are being watched.

The purpose of the article is to represent various techniques which are used to track people. According to the author of the article there is no much space left for independence nowadays. It got even more obvious when Edward Snowden. a former Central Intelligence Agency employee, confirmed our suspicions revealing numerous global surveillance programs which are keeping a sharp eye on us non-stop. Judging by his words, the Big

rother is at his prime: we are being watched by mean of surveillance cameras, listened to and monitored through our phone and our purchases are scrutinized thoroughly as well.

Whether we like it or not,

Big Brother is watching us.

But what I am interested in is if it is good or evil? To answer this question it is vital to separate government and marketing firms. They both have been gathering information about us for years, but they are doing this not for the same purpose.

Speaking about government, they are doing for the purpose of preventing all possible security threats, including terrorist threats. Though it is illegal for the government to listen to the content of phone conversations, there is no doubt they do collect information about us, and I believe it is right, as all these steps are taken for our sake.

But as for companies and marketing firms, they collect our personal information in a more harsh way. Data brokering is a multibillion-dollar industry that collects without our direct knowledge. The spookiest thing is they even do not need to enter our home to overhear our conversations, we are providing them with the neccessary information ourselves. We give away more and more private information online without knowing that it’s being harvested, personalized, and sold to other companies.

There is no universal solution to that problem yet, gathering personal information for the purpose of advertising is a big business nowadays and all we can do is just to get used to it, as we got used to the television advertisement

In conclusion, I would like to say that there is nothing to be afraid of, as long as you have nothing to hide. If you are an ordinary citizen you can feel free and forget the feeling of paranoia - you are not of interest to

Big Brother.