What is 'Freedom'?

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Biometric ID cards will be introdced in the UK soon, many believe microchips implanted under the skin will follow (Such programmes have already begun elsewhere in the world). 20% of the world's CCTV cameras reside in UK (apparently). In London the cameras also have speakers, which bark out orders at youths to move along from certain areas. In East London they are trialling secret cameras disguised as garbage to identify those who fail to recycle. When I first read Orwell's 1984, over ten years ago, I felt a sense of outrage on behalf of the characters in the book, and the soul-destroying reality they endured. And most people I discussed the book with seemed to share my feeling. But now the gap between that piece of fiction and current reality seems to have closed considerably. Is 'freedom' still desirable for we of the 21st century? Or are we more open to restricted liberty to increase security? Where did that sense of outrage come from all those years ago? Why, in these uncertain times, do I feel it's absence (both in myself and those around me?) Control through fear? What does 'freedom' mean to you? What would it mean to you to lose it?