Telescreen

From NewspeakWiki

Telescreens are television and security camera-like devices used by the ruling Party in Oceania to keep its subjects under constant surveillance, thus eliminating the chance of secret conspiracies against Oceania. All members of the Inner Party and Outer Party and a few Proles settings have telescreens.

Certain privileged members of the Inner Party, such as O'Brien, have the permission to turn their telescreens off and on and off again, but even they seem to abide by an unwritten rule that the screens can only be off for a half-hour at a time. The screens are monitored by the Thought Police. However, it is never made explicitly clear how many screens are monitored at once, or the precise criteria for monitoring a given screen, if any (although we do see that during an exercise program that Winston takes part in every morning, the instructor can see him, meaning telescreens are possibly a variant of video phones). The telescreens are incredibly sensitive, and can pick up a heartbeat. As Winston describes, "...even a back could be revealing..."

Telescreens, in addition to being surveillance devices, are also the equivalent of televisions (hence the name), regularly broadcasting false news reports about Oceania's military victories, economic achievements, spirited renditions of the national anthem to heighten patriotism, and Two Minutes Hate, which is a two-minute film of Goldstein's wishes for freedom of speech and Freedom of the press, which the citizens have been trained to disagree with (Doublethink), thus allowing them an opportunity to direct their subconscious hatred of Big Brother to Goldstein, whom they think is the real enemy. Much of the telescreen programs are given in Newspeak.

Ironically, Britain now has devices which are almost like the ones envisioned by Orwell in 1948. There are now CCTV cameras that allow surveillance officers to talk back to offenders which have been tested, and are expected to be implemented on a wider scale soon.