In the story, 1984 by George Orwell, the protagonist, Winston, lives in a society in which government has four ministries: Ministry of Love, Ministry of Peace, Ministry of Plenty, and Ministry of Truth. Because of their governmental powers, privacy is history to Winston's society, constantly under surveillance by telescreens and Thought Patrol. Any Expression of individuality is punishable by law, yet Winston defies this law through purchasing and expressing his thoughts into it. This act of defilement is called "thoughtcrime."

On Chapter Two, page 28, the author includes the statement, "Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull." "The inclusion of this sentence highlights the extent of how powerful the government is. Devices called "telescreens" are placed throughout their city, keeping watch over people, creating the figure known as "Big Brother," the watcher. Similarly, in today's society, we are constantly surveillanced  by governmental officials through our own electronic devices, hacking into our speakers, audio, and facial recognition. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, major telecommunications carriers illegally assist the U.S. Government. They present evidence for a case, claiming that government even contains a bulk collection of telephone records. The case of Anna Smith, an Idaho emergency neonatal nurse, challenges the applicability of the Third-Party Doctrine, the idea that people have no expectation of privacy in information they entrust to others. Evidently, Winston's society relates to today's through similarities in our governments.