Big Brother is watching

Banks, mobile phone companies and government push the public to do business online, without considering that the cost of a secure broadband service is beyond the financial means of many pensioners.

The younger unemployed or low-paid worker may be ‘tech-aware’ and can avail of free Wi-Fi here and there, but has no guarantee of service. Consumers’ rights are being eroded.

There is no longer a financial paper trail for the average ‘Joe’: he can request it, but there is a charge. If he talks to reps on the phone, he does not know if he is speaking to someone from the bank, mobile company, or a hired agency for a government body. He is kept at arm’s length from those to whom he is paying for a service. The customer is alienated.

All sorts of deductions could be made from a deceased person’s estate for months before some relative becomes aware. Is this the future, where our hard-earned money is out in ‘cyber space’ or in ‘the cloud’, where government bodies and banks can access it, with the client powerless if they don’t have a secure broadband network? Even the security of the safest broadband connection is constantly under threat.

Big Brother can watch us as we leave our front door, and he can take money out of our accounts and track us online. We have become the ultimate pawns in the global financial network. George Orwell’s 1984 has arrived.

Nuala Nolan

24 Bowling Green

Galway