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A Big Brother Government is Here in The US.

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The nightmare world of constant video surveillance described by George Orwell in “1984” and a big brother government is one of the most compelling images of the 20th century.

Big Brother is an all-encompassing icon of totalitarianism, more familiar than real-world dictators.

Policymakers, who have forgotten Orwell’s lessons, are busy creating a Big Brother database containing information about private citizens.

Under the welfare reform law passed in 1996, employers must report identity information about all new employees for inclusion in a massive federal database entitled, the National Directory of New Hires.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 mandated a Big Brother government and medical records database, and police insist on the right to view that information without a warrant.

Our privacy is in danger because we have missed Orwell’s point that ‘Big Brother’ is not the video camera in the department store.

Big Brother is a huge government with unique police powers that can control every aspect of our lives.

The technology is just an accessory, the police power is actually the key.

The question of police access to medical information demonstrates how the growth of Big Brother government creates justifications for increased surveillance.

Federal subsidies for health care invite fraud, at taxpayer expense, and higher costs, because health care consumers have no reason to shop for the best bargains.

A nationwide cry is heard for yet more federal intervention, and the cycle continues, as we can definitely see today.

It becomes inevitable that medical records become part of Big Brother government.

The Fair Health Information Practices Act of 1997 (H.R. 52) boasts of its new ”protections” for privacy and new penalties for violations, but the bill allows the trustees of medical information to continue to release medical records to law enforcement officers without a warrant or subpoena.

This bill thus ignores the most fundamental privacy protection of all, granted by the Bill of Rights, the freedom from warrantless searches provided by the Fourth Amendment.

Not content to ignore old safeguards against a Big Brother government surveillance, lawmakers seem determined to create new dangers and problems.

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The Federal Database

The new federal database of all new employees comes with a reassuring purpose, as familiar and comforting as Big Brother must have been to some, helping to enforce state child support orders.

The huge problem is that the database gathers far more information than necessary to serve that purpose and the premise of the law is that all citizens may be treated as suspects.

New employees must be entered in the database whether they have violated a child support order or not, and even if they have no children at all.

Not only child support enforcers, but also the IRS, the Social Security Administration, and the Justice Department will be able to access the database.

Federal law requires that the database include the new employee’s name, address, and social security number, and states are adding even more of their information.

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Child Support Detectives

Under the Family Support Act of 1988, federal funds for child support enforcement are supposed to go only to states that successfully computerize information about child support orders.

This is indeed a Big Brother government, where you must register your name and address with the authorities, just so they can find you in case you break the law.

So why is this happening in an age where surveys of consumers rank privacy as a top concern and privacy is supposed to be so highly valued?

This makes absolutely no sense except for the fact that we have a Big Brother government, where everything is turned upside down, so we can be more controlled by them.

When we rely on the federal government to solve our problems, we invite it to intrude upon our privacy and we are asking Big Brother to come in and make himself at home.

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