Little Brother. Source: LittleBrother

As Cory Doctorow states in the introduction of Little Brother, the book is “meant to be part of the conversation about what an information society means: does it mean total control, or unheard of liberty?”

Surveillance. Source: BarfBlog

This specific question correlates with our main focus on how much surveillance has expanded in the modern day. Doctorow’s futuristic novel provokes the reader to question and contemplate whether  or not our society will become just as invasive as the society Doctorow creates in Little Brother.

As Marcus states, “It’s not about doing something shameful. It’s about doing something private. It’s about your life belonging to you” (22). When technology is used to invade one’s sense of privacy, it becomes more difficult to see the benefits in it. Despite his uneasiness about both the school and government surveillance, Marcus appreciates the power and privacy it can give you.

Examples in the story:

• Laptops (aka SchoolBooks) are given to the students to use in class. The perk of these “free” laptops wore off as the students begin to realize just how burdensome they are: “Logging every keystroke, watching all the network traffic for suspicious keywords, counting every click, keeping track of every fleeting thought you put out over the net” (8).
• Gait recognition cameras: “It’s a biometric identifier, like fingerprints or retina-scans” but has collisions with the accuracy of the scan. The main purpose of the cameras is to keep track of who’s where and when.
• Library books with Radio Frequency ID tag; this was the schools sneaky way of keeping track of the students: “It lets the school track where you are at all times”.
• Cell phone tracking; this is a major issue in the story when the terrorist attack occurs. Because Marcus and all of his friends are found near the site and had “suspicious devices” on them, they are considered a threat to national security
• Surveillance bug: This bug is inserted into Marcus’ personal computer at home; not only is Marcus being tracked by his school, but also by the Department of Homeland Security.