Yes, I have read it. The fact that the British government is using the foot and mouth epidemic to justify monitoring people's emails and phone calls shows that Orwell was right about governments always wanting to erode the rights of their people.
Personally, I don't think surveillance cameras do much good, since they usually just displace crime from the city centres into the suburbs. Although, recently here, 4 policemen were caught on camera beating up a young couple, so I suppose they sometimes help justice be done.