Abstract

[Surveillance and technological development. The difficult balance between monitoring, freedom and democracy starting from 1984 and The Circle] In 1984, by George Orwell, one of the most iconic figures is the telescreen, a device that is both all-seeing and unfathomable. It sym-bolises total, totalitarian surveillance, from which the protagonist, Winston, vainly tries to hide in order to preserve the small remnant of freedom and humanity he still seems to possess. In The Circle, by Dave Eggers, the protagonist, Mae, decides to fully embrace the ethos of the company: she acquires the status of “transparent”, believing that perfect surveillance disciplines people’s behaviour and thus makes them the best version of themselves. Through these literary references, the author seeks to highlight how individual and collective approaches to electronic monitoring have changed over time. However, the capacity of surveillance practices to undermine individual freedom of self-determination and the democratic character of societies appears not to have changed. Today’s jurist must reconsider the traditional notion of privacy with a renewed spirit, open to socio-technological transformations. At the same time, the jurist is called upon to adopt an approach that is as interdisciplinary as possible in order to contribute to the concrete identification of a better balance between freedom and security