Privacy

 

 

The Internet is a beautiful and exciting array of ideas, art, culture, and anything else imaginable. It is a system created to boost socializing and spreading of new and old information. It can be an amazing thing, but it can also have many negative impacts both individually and as a whole. For example, many social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, etc. participate in a step-by-step process in order to turn violating privacy into a business model. One of these processes is called digital dossiers, a process in which companies will keep track of all the tabs and information relating to an individual and sell it a hundred times over to create revenue. This process is slightly known among the public, in the sense that we know that these companies keep track of our data, this is how our "for you" pages are so catered to us, and how our "recommended" pages are linked to our likes and dislikes. However, we rarely think about the negative effects that are also created by this. Juan Enriquez talks about these effects by comparing these processes to permanent tattoos. In one sense, he states you can take a picture of a random bar scene, find a man in the picture, and download everything about him before ever meeting him. In the same sense, there is so much "tattooed" on people's digital footprints, it will follow people around long after their physical bodies are gone.

 

The question often surfaces, "what should the Government be doing to fix these problems?" But what most people do not realize, is that the Government controls a lot of the problems with the internet and data sharing. For example, Catherine Crump explains that one thing they are in a high market of control over is license plate readers. These readers are often hidden in plain sight but are always scanning their surroundings. The machine sends data and pictures of cars and license plates to the Government. Ideally, this would be used in situations when searching for criminals and persons of interest, but it often bleeds into the everyday person in America. We are often tracked and monitored without ever knowing, even without breaking the law. This is just one instance of the monitoring that the Government does without our knowledge. I think in many regards, the Government as a whole wants to control the media, but the laws keep them from violating people's rights in doing so. With the uprising in media, there have been loopholes in this system, now allowing the Government to violate these rights and get away with it. In a perfect world, however, the Government would create statutes to prohibit the selling and exploitation of people's information. 

One thing that we as individuals can do a better job of in protecting our own rights to privacy is reading through the terms and conditions of different applications. This is a very simple step to helping individuals maintain privacy. By reading through terms and conditions of an application, any person can be more aware of the things the company is doing with their information and they can learn how to better avoid violations of privacy. Finally, even though this is not a personal step per se, companies need to do a better job of encrypting their sites. By encrypting, companies can help ease the effects of the Government monitoring us. It would allow for a barrier between the police and other forms of the Government and us as individuals. Encryption, as stated by Christopher Soghoian, would limit the possibility for hacking. Which ultimately is an entirely different set of complications connected to the internet. This can include identity fraud, loss of accounts, loss of money, and many other problems. Ultimately, a higher level of encryption would be the best solution to this problem. However, as stated earlier, many companies don't want to do this as it would limit much of their revenue of selling information.