WATCHING ME, WATCHING YOU by Mia Squire

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Watching me, watching you WORDS CW: needles, COVID Mia Squire (she/her)

In 2021 it is almost impossible to go unseen. Take the London all, social media. But this just struck me as absurd. The juiciest Underground for example. Over 15,000 cameras inhabit shots my CIA officer was going to get was of me sitting in my the sprawling network. They roost above platforms, crane stained hoodie watching Netflix. Whether or not there was any around corners, and nest in the thundering carriages of each weight to the WikiLeaks claims became besides the point. The train, capturing every moment of its commuters. Yet this fact that the government - or any other institution, company, or omnipresence of surveillance isn’t restricted to what can be individual for that matter - could hack into our webcams, could perceived by the public eye. Recent years have seen a rise in watch us in our bedrooms, the most private and intimate settings more discreet recording systems and privately-owned cameras of all, gripped our collective consciousness. - from businesses attempting to protect their stock, to security Even more recently came the conspiracies surrounding cameras implanted in doorbells. microchips being planted in the Coronavirus vaccine. The fact That we now take for granted that the majority of our that the integrity of a vaccine that has the potential to end a movements are recorded - sometimes without our awareness - pandemic and save countless lives is being questioned as a is a suggestion that we may have become too accustomed to this government ploy to monitor its citizens suggests just how far this surveillance state. From the minute we wake up in the morning paranoia has spiralled out of control. But it isn’t just a small group we are monitored – whether it’s turning on our phone with our of society that believes this, A recent survey suggested 28% fingerprint, being listened to by our smart of Americans believed that Bill Gates devices, or even doing a spot of online shopping, our data is being harvested 24 hours a day. And who is really to blame for instead of being prescribed our had planned to carry out this massmicrochipping program. Of course, there was very little information to support our complacency? This is not a hostage telescreen or these claims, and the likelihood is that situation - instead of being prescribed our telescreen or tracking chip by the government, we all headed to Amazon to buy them for ourselves.Through our tracking chip by the government, we all headed the government or the man who made the Word Doc is not trying to microchip our brains. Even more ironically, much of the information spread about this acceptance of a modern world which to Amazon to conspiracy happened via Facebook, a insists technological advancement is the only way to ensure security and simplicity, we have bowed down to the buy them for ourselves platform that spreads fake news faster than any other social media platform, according to Forbes. systems that watch over us, adding fuel Despite the obvious inaccuracy of to a fire that shows no sign of diminishing. these claims, they are nonetheless a symptom of the paranoia Of course, constant surveillance has its advantages – that defines modern society. The rapid integration of surveillance be it identifying criminals, tracking the whereabouts of missing systems into every aspect of our lives have left us wondering people and even allowing us to monitor how long the library how much is too much. From the cookies stored on websites queue is (tip: if you can see it on the library camera, it’s not we visit, to police body cameras, to the recording device on worth leaving your flat). One lasting side effect, however, is our neighbour’s doorbell, it has become impossible not only to paranoia. Our adverts seem eerily tailored, Snapmaps tells our entirely comprehend how much of our personal movements exact location within seconds and smart speakers pipe up at are being recorded, but also who exactly has access to this the slightest mention of a desired time. Our traceability leaves information. For every benefit offered by this new technology us vulnerable. The world feels so much smaller. Big cities have comes an equally concerning drawback. The end result is a become tiny villages where privacy feels like a rarity. mistrust of our own concerns, an invalidation of warranted And this paranoia goes even further. Beyond everyday fear. As an incredibly lucrative and booming industry, a world concerns regarding personal confidentiality, a growing number in which we do away with the surveillance state is altogether of people fear that the government is trying to tap into our inconceivable. A far more likely, imaginable future is one in which everyday lives. In 2017 massive controversy ensued when we rid ourselves of traditional surveillance technology only to WikiLeaks claimed that the CIA had the ability to hack into instead become our own surveillance devices. webcams. The internet went mad. People began to fear they This leaves us with an uneasy conclusion: CCTV and had their own designated CIA officer watching their every move. surveillance appears to have become an unavoidable aspect Quickly cameras were covered with stickers, precautions were of modern life. Both the ability and desire to go unseen are made and society feared they were living in a total surveillance contemporary myths which appear impossible. Maybe the state against their own knowledge. To express their disgust they extent of the surveillance we are facing has become too great. ironically turned to the place that harvests the most data on us However, the honest truth is: we might just have to deal with it.