Heroes of the fifth estate
We do not have to seek far to see why the likes of Julian Assange, Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden are the heroes of the day. Governments, particularly those ruling the super powers of the information technology age like the US and the UK, are proving most devious in following a no-holds barred policy in prying into the lives of common people.
They have gained such expertise in the snooping and hacking business that they have cracked the systems that enable web encryption and have been looking into anything and everything — from bank and medical records to commercial secrets, besides their penchant to spy on phone calls and Internet chats.
A film on Assange — The Fifth Estate — has just been released and the British actor Benedict Cumberbatch talks of how proud he is to bring out the WikiLeaks founder’s “ideas and integrity and self-sacrifice”. He broadly reflects public opinion on the tormented Assange who has been holed up for over a year in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, freedom probably as far away as snow in the tropics. In his time of troubles over leaks that set the ball rolling further at WikiLeaks, Manning rediscovered his sexuality. And Snowden is hiding in Moscow.
Given the powers Western governments have armed themselves with in the fight against terrorism, those who stand up for the individual’s right to privacy have very little chance to oppose the gigantic forces that have brought to life the fears that George Orwell foresaw in his seminal work, 1984. So the next time you open your computer/device/phone, be well aware that every keystroke of yours is being watched and analysed and may be used against you.
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