Uncle Sam = Big Brother?

In George Orwell's novel 1984 , "Big Brother" is the dictator of Oceania. No one knows whether Big Brother is a real person, or simply the personification of the dictatorship. Big Brother spies on every citizen through "telescreens." Everyone is reminded constantly, "Big Brother is Watching You."

Let's compare that to the recent revelations about the Orwellian-named National Security Agency (NSA), an arm of the U.S. Department of Defense...

The bottom line is that the NSA evidently is getting call information on virtually every phone call by virtually every American, it is definitely getting the emails and call content of foreigners, and it may or may not be getting the emails and call content of Americans.

So is Uncle Sam actually Big Brother? I won't dwell on the convoluted intimate relations that would be necessary to make your uncle also your brother. Rather, as noted above, the essence of Big Brother was that "Big Brother is Watching You." Uncle Sam isn't physically observing you at all times — that much is true. But if Uncle Sam is receiving information about every phone call that you make (as the NSA concedes), and Uncle Sam has access every other electronic communication of yours, including your emails and web browsing and storing it all (which the NSA disputes), then yes, Big Brother is Watching You...