Big Brother is watching you more closely than ever: CCTV cameras, the spies in our midst

Privacy is essential to our humanity. It permits us to shape and maintain lives, from which personal identity, selfdetermination and freedom arise. In today’s society, however, undisturbedness is mainly an illusion. The line between privacy and public space has simply become as fragile as porcelain. This is due to increased monitoring of human behaviour. In “Big Brother is watching you more closely than ever”, written by John Kampfner in 2012, it is discussed whether surveillance provides protection or disturbs the individual liberty.

A coherent structure in essence is the foundation for the written amount of text. The article consists of three …show more content…

This is shown by the following citation: “Cameras don’t fix human behaviour. They just monitor it.”

At some point in the text, it appears that the writer has a positive approach towards the advanced technology: “Although the camera did not prevent the crime, its images helped the police find the two boys who were later convicted of his murder.” With the author’s acknowledgement of the oppositely directed point the appeal to credibility is strengthened. Moreover, his ability to treat the topic fairly is established. The quoted passage is succeeded by a personal anecdote. This recounts a criminal offence that made him even more insecure about the purpose of investing millions of pounds in security cameras. By involving an own experience pathos is brought into action. The pathetic appeal puts the audience in a suitable mood by addressing their feelings about the subject.

It can be assumed that John Kampfner has written the article with the aim to persuade the readers to reaffirm their exiting believes about close monitoring. The appliance of different appeal forms, quotes and references to experts contribute to a convincing argumentation. It is also conceivable that the author wishes to create political awareness, so that mass surveillance can be controlled in an