Big Brother is Watching All of Us — a Talking Points lesson plan

Look above your head any time you are outside and you will see them.

Dozens of cameras peering down, observing our every move.

These days, we cannot do anything without being seen. We are under constant observation.

For some, this is a good thing. It means that we are safe and criminals are less likely to commit a crime.

But for others, this is just a gross breach of privacy. People now believe they can’t even walk down the street without being watched and recorded.

And it’s not just in the street.

In banks, in hotels, in every shopping mall… There are dozens of tiny cameras gazing down upon us and witnessing everything we do.

This has been around for many years, but now there is something new added — Facial Recognition Technology.

This is an advanced piece of AI that can recognise a person’s face and immediately identify them. Anyone checking the software can then locate the person’s entire history of where they have lived, worked, and any other activity they have done.

So, for example, you are in your car and you break the speed limit as you cross a busy junction. The speed limit is 40km/hr, but you were travelling at 45 km/hr. to be fair.

In the past, a police officer may have seen you, stopped you and given you a warning.

Be mindful of others on the road, he might say.

And that would be the end of it. But now, via a complex computer system, your face is recognised, and the fine is already sent to your current home address.

Or maybe they email it to you. Just as you go past the junction, you hear a small beep on your phone and that is the fine already sent by email.

There are fears that companies are demanding to know all this information about their employees. They feel they have a right to know what little crimes their staff commits.

And anyway, if you contest the fine, maybe the court can just send it to the accounts department of your place of work. You arrive at work the next day and HR calls you into the office.

It appears you have an outstanding traffic violation. The police demand payment.

Your company accounts department pays the fine. And then next time you receive your paycheck, it is minus the fine you received for a minor speeding offence.

There is no escape. Wherever we go, we are under constant observation and scrutiny.

The question is — is it just the police that is watching us?

Maybe big corporations are observing us too. To watch our daily habits and create clever advertising to manipulate us online.

There seems no limit to the invasion of our privacy.

Thirty years ago, people walked the streets. They went in and out of shops and buildings. And no one knew where they had been.

Today, people’s every move is traced, tracked and recorded.