Are we living in a Big Brother world?

I' ve never really thought about this issue, whether we live in a Big Brother world.Of course I don't like the idea of being monitored and observed at every step.But is it that bad? After reading a passage about the ways in which authorities try to control citizens I got quite surprised and confused.The extract was depicting the situation in Great Britain.Poland probably won't have enough money for this type of technologies in the nearest future.But maybe one day...?
Personally I don't feel like living in a Big Brother world.I think that people,who don't obey the law - may.They have to be careful because they might be eavesdropped, they have to take out their sim cards when talking to "friends by a trade" and live in a constant fear.But I consider it rather an advantage for the society, because this way the police have bigger chances and possibilities to catch criminals.For ordinary people the drawback of using modern technology in order to prevent crime may be monitoring.The awareness of surveillance cameras is rather uncomfortable.However the attitude toward them may change when we walk after dusk an empty alley or, as in the movies, we meet a dead end and somebody starts approaching us.
In my opinion, the modern technologies, when used in a reasonable way, may be very helpful to make the world a safer place.The conditional is that they aren't overused.The authorities shouldn't exaggerate.We have to keep a smart balance between preventing crime and respecting people's privacy.The idea of being monitored in change rooms in clothes shops or in washrooms is sick for me.
To sum up, I think that citizens, who proceed legally don't have a problem with being traced and understand that it's for their own safety.In Poland the problem is that the citizens don't trust the police (I think that's reasonable).The police is occupied with causing troubles to ordinary citizens but you can't rely on them.I also perceive "straż miejska" as an useless profession because they aren't enough entitled to do anything useful.