Callum Makkai | Always under watch

"In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs," wrote George Orwell in the opening scene of his classic novel, 1984. "It was the police patrol, snooping into people's windows."

So begins Orwell's terrifying vision of a future in which the state watches each and every citizen, keeping track of their habits, even dictating thoughts. Today when we think of repressive regimes, we usually talk about North Korea or China - countries where state-controlled media are the norm.

Censorship makes China look like the society Orwell had in mind when he penned his masterpiece. But from where I stand, it's our society that possesses the kind of technology that made his futuristic world so frightening.

Every time you shop with plastic, surf the Internet, swipe your PennCard or simply walk into Wawa, your actions are recorded. Add to this the information many of us voluntarily post on Facebook, and you've got a comprehensive surveillance system that would have given old George the jitters.

Take our beloved campus, for example. University City is a porous yet heavily guarded castle. In addition to the 500 security guards deployed at any one time, the Division of Public Safety has 86 "pan-tilt-zoom" CCTV cameras and 500 or so fixed ones scattered about campus.

We practically beg authorities for this level of surveillance because we feel it makes us safer. "Our community is constantly requesting and calling for more security, as far as police and the cameras," Stefanie Cella, DPS director of Operations and External Affairs, told me. "We'd rather be proactive and do all these things for the safety and security of everyone - students, faculty and staff."

I understand that sentiment. The time I lived under the closest scrutiny was the period I felt safest. That was the year I moved to the dusty plains of central China, where I lived behind two lines of fencing. My Internet access was restricted, and packages of reading material sent from home often disappeared. The guards in front of my compound watched me closely.

I was secure. But I also felt uneasy. When you know you're being watched half the time, it's hard to relax.

That apprehension crept back in Philadelphia after noticing flying machines whizzing past my building. Initially I assumed they were Medivac helicopters going to the hospital, but then I realized they were scanning the neighborhood, like hawks hunting mice.

Wanting to know more, I called the Philadelphia Police Department and talked with Lieutenant Anthony Ginaldi, who spoke enthusiastically about the future of aerial policing. He told me the Aviation Unit operates high-tech helicopters that patrol the city much like police cars. Anytime I saw one of their helicopters in the air, he said, I could rest assured they were on the case.

And there's the rub.

When I hear chopper blades overhead, I don't feel assured of anything - except that I'm living under the watchful gaze of the authorities.

"This is a classic example of addressing the symptoms of a disease rather than the disease itself," noted Josh Warren, a College sophomore and vice president of the Penn Libertarian Association. "The most secure state possible would have a camera in every room and an officer on every corner, but is that the answer to our problems?"

In search of a solution to crime, Philadelphia is going the way of London, where the average citizen appears on a CCTV camera nearly 300 times per day. In fact, our city has begun implementing a $10 million initiative that will see hundreds of cameras go into operation.

With this level of policing, it's hard not to feel like you're living through an Orwellian nightmare. Which brings me back to 1984 - not the book now, but the year the Olympics were held in a smoggy city called Los Angeles. In gold medals, America placed first, China fourth. Fast forward to 2008, and you've almost got the reverse.

If there's one thing the last three decades have shown, it's that America and China are becoming more alike. As we all know, one has embraced market capitalism with wild abandon, and as for the other - well, let's just say its citizens live under closer scrutiny than one would expect in the land of the free.

Callum Makkai is a 2nd year doctoral student in SAS, from Halifax, Canada. His email is makkai@dailypennsylvanian.com. Moment of Clarity appears on alternating Thursdays.

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