Privacy And Security In The Digital World Essay

Technology can diddle great freedom. As the commercials of the 90s promised, the earnings offers previously unheard of access to information from the comfort of angio ecstasynersin converting enzymes own home. Of course, the derive of information that com founder networks allow to be freely-sh ared isnt restricted to the circuit board catalogs of major libraries, the lowest- practical prices or e-mails from friends and relatives. As technology has become cheaper, more omnipotent and nearly-ubiquitous new and, some have argued, disturbing developments have taken regularize at the nexus of powerful technology and individualised covert. Credit circuit card and debit card transactions can be traced, allowing access to ones spending habits. On line, shielding such transactions from curious eyeball has resulted in a world where ever-stronger forms of encryption are infallible to keep consumers financial information secure. Cameras are stationed nearly everywhere now, and so me major cities are considering installing surveillance cameras in globe places to monitor the streets, justifying it by alluding to the threat of terrorism. (Honan, 1) Where a case is being do for putting in surveillance cameras, one will usually hap the crisis of surety vs. hiding tossed aside perhaps more quickly than it should be, with the advocator arguing on the side of security. Whatever their motives, person is probably nonice you in most(prenominal) private establishments, of course. This raises a new question for familiarity where is the line between the reasonable expectation of privacy and paranoia in the info Age? Its hard to find somebody who likes the idea of their personal information and activities being collected by strangers. Interestingly, people almost universally express negativity toward each technology that monitors their actions but that negativity disappears when theyre asked if separate peoples actions should be monitored. (Kleve, De Mulder & Van Noortwijk, 13). Everyone seems to detest motorists who deport red come downs but nearly everyone detests with equal venom the red light cameras designed to catch them committing the same traffic violation, so to speak. The debate everyplace security and privacy is hardly new. The nature of the debate, however, has changed in the past ten years. In a 1998 series of three articles, The Washington Posts Robert O plough Jr. wrote about concerns surrounding data mine. selective information mining is an activity that really bloomed in the last ten years. Beca pulmonary tuberculosis of the amount of electronic records consumers generate, there exists an opportunity for marketers to narrow down their sales pitches to ever-more specific demographics by obtaining and mining that data for particular spending habits. The curve amount of data that is collected, the consumers unawareness of it and the ways in which this data can be sorted, searched and drilled into as well as the esc ape of control regrading how that data is eventually disseminated and that fact that protecting that data requires perpetual technological innovation presents challenges to citizens and law-enforcement alike. (Jerry Berman & Deirdre Mulligan, II. B.). To add to the general anxiety, the US government, following the folk 11 terrorist attacks upon New York, began collecting information from telecom companies, without a warrant, which they mean to mine for activity they considered suspect. The program has proved so controversial that, at present, Congress and the White House are unable to agree as to the boundaries of government where monitoring private conversations is concerned (Chaddock). Interestingly, a key advert of contention in this debate has been the role of private companies.When OHarrow wrote about the potential for shady-activity surrounding how much of the information gathered by private data mining firms might be shared with the government, he was being quite propheti c. The telecom companies who cooperated with the government eavesdropping program now impudence the potential threat of billions of dollars in lawsuits for violating the rights of their clients (Chaddock, 7). Whether or not to pass order that would immunize private firms from being sued by their clients for their cooperation with the warantless eavesdropping program has brought the legislation to a halt. Telecoms provide Internet access as well as retrieve service. Where the Internet is concerned, perhaps expecting any privacy is unreasonable. As Burman and Mulligan put it Imagine walking through a mall where every store, unbeknown(predicate) to you, placed a sign on your back. The signs tell every other store you visit exactly where you have been, what you looked at, and what you purchased. Something very close to this is possible on the Internet. With the growing adoption of the Internet on the part of consumerswho are also, of course, citizensover the past decade, it would se em that none of our habits, likes and dislikes or political dispositions are immune from being investigated by commercial or government interests. Its likely that as we become more connected by and hooked upon technology, well have to become more accustomed, and skilled, at living in a world where we must assume that the details of nearly any twenty-four hour period of our lives can be reconstructed by an interested party, and probably in great detail at that. Escaping society, or the ever-present electronic eyes thereof, is next to impossible.Most anyones location can be revealed to someone with access to the right technology. Any purchase made with a reference or debit card becomes a part of a mosaic that can be used to interpret the nature and habits of its owner. It seems that using any technology that allows networking carries with it a mandatory trade-off where ones privacy is concerned. Now that the government claims it doesnt require warrants to gather and make use of th is information, its hard to see any walls that might obstruct the cerebration of those who would be spies. In todays world, privacy may not be dead, but its certainly not looking so healthy as it once did. The benefits of technology are many and most would agree that many of those benefits are marvelous. A GPS unit on a phone can alert emergency personnel to the location of someone who may not be able to do so themselves. It would be hard to reckon how many convenience store and bank withhold ups may have been foiled by obviously placed security cameras. For better or worse, we may have to adapt to an age where privacy is only to be had in the most remote wilderness. Unless, of course, you have a Global Positioning System in your caror your cell phone, which you probably do whether you know it or not.Sources CitedChaddock, Gail Russel. House Set to let Warrantless Evesdropping Law Lapse. The Christian Science Monitor 15, Feb, 2008. Retrieved From Honan, Edith. Blomberg Defends C ity control Camera Plan. Reuters. Retrieved From Jerry Berman & Deirdre Mulligan. Privacy in the Digital Age excogitate in Progress Nova Law Review, Volume 23, Number 2, Winter 1999. The Internet and Law. Retrieved From Kleve, Pieter, De Mulder Richard, V., Van Norrtwijk, Kees Surveillance technology and law the social impact Int. J. Intercultural knowledge Management Vol 1 No 1. 2007 Retrieved From OHarrow, Robert Jr. Are Data Firms Getting Too Personal? The Washington Post Sunday, March 8, 1998 varlet A1