The above link is of a front page article in today's New York Times titled: "Court Case Asks if 'Big Brother' Is Spelled GPS". The article highlights concerns in the US that Orwell's "1984" novel's predictions are finally coming true.
More to the point, I think biometrics technology is more in tune with Orwell's totalitarian predictions, as it's practical applications are more futuristic and leave the state in a positive monolithic position.
The use of GPS tracking of suspects in the US seems little more than an extension of stakeouts and tailing a car. Whereas with biometrics you can implant an ID chip under a person's skin, not only tracking him but perhaps as technology advances you could program everything about an individual. For example, today biometrics includes identifying someone with a retina scan. So with the recent surge in the pace of scientific advances, soon maybe a machine could read a persons thoughts through a retina scan in thought police fashion!
microchip ID technology & implication<video> anti-totalitarian wisdom<video>
However, is a monolithic totalitarian state something to fear? Perhaps not, perhaps we shouldn't subscribe to the ancient sentiment of existentialism that life is meaningless, relegating it to the dustbin of negativist history. As I've said before, an in depth analysis of life should leave you in a positivist awe of the future. Reading good science fiction, like "1984", always helped me conceptualize and look forward to tomorrow.
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