by Daniel Bergman

Created on: November 10, 2008

"Big brother is watching you," the phrase coined in 50 different languages by George Orwell's 1984, has echoed a terrifying message through the ages. While the message instills a belief that we all have the right to privacy, it warns that the invasion thereof is imminent.

The year of 1984 failed to realize the life portrayed in this classic work of fiction. But technology has forged beyond the limits of our imaginations. And the world that embraced the Commodore 64 finds itself meeting the dawn of a new era. Powered by the "Information Superhighway," circumnavigating the globe is no longer a feat of immense proportions, but a few second journey at the speed of light.

The Superhighway is constantly traveled by virtual commuters, concerned more about their destination than the road itself. The road, however, no longer exists.

Telegraphs utilized a road to convey messages. The roads were paved with copper. The electrical message was sent from point "a," and traveled along an energized copper wire to point "b." The message remained intact and relatively uncompromised during its travel to point "b." We've moved away from copper, the internet backbone is now made up of fiber optic cables. The ancient copper road has been reduced to rubble and it now rests on the brink of extinction.

Messages are no longer sent from point "a" to point "b," as they once were. Fiber optic cables don't conduct electricity, rendering an electrical message impassable. Instead, messages are sent from point "a" to a third party in the middle. The message, now in the custody of the third party, gets relayed across the fiber optic backbone, three quarters of which is owned and operated by AT&T.

Hepting v. AT&T made national headlines recently, which sparked controversy among many. Hepting alleges that AT&T allowed the NSA to monitor all the internet traffic and telephone calls that passed through AT&T's fiber optic hub in San Fransisco. Their allegations are backed by Mark Klein, a retired AT&T employee, as well as three documents that Klein claims to have taken from his former employer.

Klein claimed that the NSA had a "secret room" located in the AT&T building. He also alleges that the NSA was able to copy all internet traffic from that secret room by means of an optical splitter. An optical splitter divides light beams in two. Regardless of whether or not the allegations are true, the fact remains that private messages sent over the internet are susceptible to government invasion.

In Orwell's 1984, the government's over-reaching laws were enforced by the "thought police." The idea of the "thought police" seems a bit too extreme to ever be anything but fiction; which is why I am struggling with the possibility that it's not. So, when you're online, remember that "big brother is watching you."

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