Big Brother

Big Brother is a fictional character and symbol in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. He is the leader (most likely a symbolic figurehead) of Oceania, a totalitarian state where the ruling Party has total power over the inhabitants. In the society that Orwell describes, every citizen is under constant surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens. The people are constantly reminded of this by the slogan "Big Brother is watching you": a maxim which is ubiquitously on display. In modern culture the term "Big Brother" has entered the lexicon as a synonym for abuse of government power, particularly in respect to civil liberties, often specifically related to mass surveillance.