From Orwell To Algorithms: Is 1984 Becoming A Legal Reality? A Legal Analysis Of Government Surveillance And Privacy Rights

Abstract

Contemporary digital surveillance and the expansion of state-controlled Artificial Intelligence and mass data collection have provoked anxiety about Orwellian surveillance states which Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four so presciently imagined. This research examines whether the situation of contemporary state surveillance creates Orwellian legal and ethical nightmares, and critiques the efficacy of legal protections for the right to privacy. Using a mixed-doctrinal and empirical approach, this paper offers an in-depth and critical analysis of the legal frameworks comprising constitutional provisions, international and regional human rights law, and case law, and correlates this with a descriptive analysis of survey data derived from an anonymous Google Forms survey with ten respondents. This research used a five-item Likert-style survey to collect data regarding the respondents’ views on the expansion of surveillance, fear of data privacy, the greatest threat to privacy, the perceived sufficiency of privacy laws, and the perceived similarity of modern-day state surveillance to the year Nineteen Eighty-Four. This study found that the public believes the expansion of state surveillance is vastly evident (80%), is highly concerned about state-sponsored data privacy (70%), and is unconvinced about the sufficiency of existing state-sponsored data privacy laws (70% expressed disagreement), and that contemporary state-sponsored data privacy laws and Orwell’s dystopia are highly congruent (70% expressed agreement). Data Privacy, by far, is the greatest state-sponsored surveillance concern. Within the context of proportionality and necessity within state-sponsored data privacy laws from the Puttaswamy case to the Court of Justice for the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights, this research concludes that contemporary state-sponsored data privacy laws and Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, while far from perfect, are congruent and relevant.