1948 was a rather terminal year for the tense relations between America and the USSR. The Berlin Airlift was in full swing and the Soviet Union was doing its best to impede foreign aid. Tensions were high and many people around the world felt that war was imminent. 1984 leaps 36 years into the future and proclaims that the world is divided into three supernations. So great that one nation cannot overthrow another. In a constant state of war. Never at peace because dictatorships cannot exist in peacetime. In fact, today we can observe some aspects of 1984. Internet surveillance is the most obvious. Many people fear that the NSA, National Surveillance Agency, is just a tool for the government to keep an eye on its citizens. Just like the thought police of 1984 monitored citizens through the one-way telescreen. One problem recently brought to light by the NSA involves warrantless searches of American communications through a loophole in surveillance laws. This loophole allowed the NSA to search Americans' phone calls, emails, and anything else they could get their hands on. The NSA programs that have used this loophole are Prism and Upstream. Prism used to collect information by many technology companies, from Apple to Yahoo and everything in between. Another move reminiscent of 1984 was President Barack Obama's defense of this widespread surveillance in June of last year.1 However, it is not just American spy agencies that are monitoring citizens. According to recently leaked documents, GCHQ, a British spy agency, hacked into fiber optic cables and began sharing information with its American counterpart, the NSA. The information shared ranges from telephone records… to the medium of paper… as the world did in 1984. The citizen still has enough power to make a difference if they want. Works CitedAckArchive." A Campaign Promise Dies: Obama and Military Commissions. TruthOut, 09 March 2010. Web. 02 April 2014. MacAskill, Ewen, Julian Borger, Nick Hopkins, Nick Davies, and James Ball. "GCHQ uses fiber cable optics for secret access to world communications". Masterpiece that killed George Orwell." The Observer. Guardian News and Media, 10 May 2009. Web. 31 March 2014 Sherman, Spencer and James Ball. "NSA Performed Warrantless Searches of Americans' Calls and Emails - Clapper." Theguardian.com Guardian News and Media, 1 April 2014. Web. 1 April 2014. Beale, Lewis "We're Living '1984' Today", CNN. 2014.