Protecting your Privacy from the Government
Privacy and the Government, for century’s people have debated the conspiracy theory that the government is always watching you.With integration of information System, this fear is fast becoming reality.Since September 11, the Government has developed a completely new understanding of information the individuals that live in the United States.They are now focusing on the any and all potential threats to national security.The Government’s big imitative, which is part of Homeland Security, is Total Information Awareness (TIA) also known as Terrorism Information Awareness.This campaign is the closest thing to ‘Big Brother’ that the United States has ever seen.It is a focus on pulling as much information together on as many people as possible into a single database, making the information available to government officials to weed out and find potential people involved in terrorism.On the surface this would seem to be a good thing, but if you look at the situation closer, you will find that they are gathering information on anyone and everyone.This means that they are gathering information on people for future purposes.They are gathering information on the pretense that they may use it in the future in the name of Homeland Security.The TIA is not the only mode of extraction of information from our privacy; the airlines in conjunction with the government have developed a similar system for airline passengers.The government is also purchasing information from other companies on its customer to gain more data on potential wrong doers.We will discuss basic points on all three later on this site.In essence many believe that they are violating our privacy.
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...ng the awareness of privacy within its agencies.They have begun to create positions called Private Contact Officers (PCO), which have the responsibility of maintaining the integrity of the implied privacy agreement with its citizens.Of the government agencies polled over 74% respondents thought that privacy was extremely important to their agencies.Some of the main focuses of the agencies are on Internet security and personal information security and integrity.Most of the agencies polled expressed that privacy was a priority; it did not rank as one the top priorities.The issue of privacy and the government is getting better but at an extremely slow pace.Once people understand that when you lose your privacy you can never get it back, they will guard themselves and there personal information better.The only one that can help prevent invasion of privacy is ourselves.
James Stacey Taylor's article, "In Praise of Big Brother: Why We Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Government Surveillance" begins reviewing the concept of "Big Brother" as it was originally presented in George Orwell's 1984. The Big Brother started off as a fictional character in 1984-- a dictator of Oceania within a totalitarian state. Set within a society in which everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens, the people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase “Big Brother is watching you” (Wikipedia) . Taylor goes on to explain some examples of recent surveillance technology and how it is applied in lives today. An interesting note and comparison between today’s technology and that of the telescreens in 1984, is that people could be sure that they could not be watched by Big Brother’s telescreens by going out of the cities into the country, where they only had to take care that their conversations were not monitored by hidden microphones (Taylor 227). He contrasts the two, highlighting the fact that “Such an escape is not impossible, for spy satellites can be used to monitor people wherever they go” (277). From there, Taylor perpetuates the framework for his position on the Big Brother notion. Taylor argues that, "rather than opposing such an expansion of surveillance technology, its use should be encouraged -- and not only in the public realm" (227). Taylor’s argument presented in a more formal construction is as follows:
Even before the battle started, America saw his attack coming. Japan had bombed the Dutch harbor in Alaska on the days of June 3rd and 4th. Japan landed there instead of on the islands of Attu and Kiska, in fear the United States might be there. There attacks failed when the plan to get the American fleet from Midway to aid the freshly bombed Dutch harbor. At 0900 hours an American patrol boat spotted the Japanese fleet seven hundred miles from Midway. At that point admiral Soroku Yamamoto’s plans of a sneak attack were over. Admiral fletcher commanded the U.S.S. Yorktown before it was sunk by the Japanese. Then at 0750, japan spots nine enemy (American) planes fifteen miles out. Tones, a Japanese cruiser, opened fire on the American pilots. Almost instantly if an American bomber plane were hit it would explode and go down. The bombers dropped their torpedoes to far from their targets, so the torpedoes didn’t land a single blow to Japan. At 1040 japan sent from Hiryu,...
Edward Snowden is America’s most recent controversial figure. People can’t decide if he is their hero or traitor. Nevertheless, his leaks on the U.S. government surveillance program, PRISM, demand an explanation. Many American citizens have been enraged by the thought of the government tracing their telecommunication systems. According to factbrowser.com 54% of internet users would rather have more online privacy, even at the risk of security (Facts Tagged with Privacy). They say it is an infringement on their privacy rights of the constitution. However, some of them don’t mind; they believe it will help thwart the acts of terrorists. Both sides make a good point, but the inevitable future is one where the government is adapting as technology is changing. In order for us to continue living in the new digital decade, we must accept the government’s ability to surveil us.
Throughout America’s history, capital punishment, or the death penalty, has been used to punish criminals for murder and other capital crimes. In the early 20th century, numerous people would gather for public executions. The media described these events gruesome and barbaric (“Infobase Learning”). People began to wonder if the capital punishment was really constitutional.
Witkoski, Michael. "The Great Gatsby." Magill’S Survey Of American Literature, Revised Edition (2006): 1-2. Literary Reference Center. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
The fear of death and the search for eternal life is a cultural universal. The ideology surrounding immortality transcends time and a plethora of cultures. The theme, immortality appears in stories from the Epic of Gilgamesh, which was composed by ancient Sumerians roughly around 600 B.C., to present day works of fiction in the twenty first century. Gilgamesh, a figure of celestial stature, allows his mortal side to whittle away his power after the death of Enkidu. Undeniably, defenseless before the validity of his own end, he leaves Uruk and begins a quest for Utnapishtim; the mortal man who withstood the great deluge and was granted immortality by the gods (Freeman 36). The search for immortality is a universal concept that has presented itself many times throughout the world; it is a concept that stands in hearts of mankind; The Epic of Gilgamesh illustrates humanity’s innate desire to break free from the constraints of the civilized world, while at the same time trying to find the meaning of existence; a theme that that is perpetrated many times throughout the epic. With that being said, The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story that should not be simply viewed as a text that was written by ancient human civilization thousands of years ago; it should be viewed as a text that highlights humanity’s struggle to overcome the limitations of mortality, and the acceptance of death. This is a theme
In particular The NSA or National Security Agency was reported to collect massive amounts of data from the citizens of the United States and many other foreign countries. This data was not obtained with the permission of the people but obtained in secrecy and the majority of the data that was collected was “phone metadata, or information about who you call, when you called them, where you called them, what kind of carrier you were using, and more” (Kelly 2). With this kind of information being obtained people’s lives can be perceived by ...
In many literary works we see significant transitions in the hero's character as the story is developed. This is also true in the Epic of Gilgamesh with its hero, Gilgamesh. In this narrative poem, we get glimpses of who Gilgamesh is and what his purposes and goals are. We see Gilgamesh act in many different ways -- as an overbearing ruler resented by his people, a courageous and strong fighter, a deflated, depressed man, and finally as a man who seems content with what he's accomplished. Through all of these transitions, we see Gilgamesh's attitude toward life change. The goals he has for his own life alter dramatically, and it is in these goals that we see Gilgamesh's transition from being a shallow, ruthless ruler to being an introspective, content man.
Gilgamesh is an epic of great love, followed by lingering grief that causes a significant change in character. It is the story of a person who is feared and honored, a person who loves and hates, a person who wins and loses and a person who lives life. Gilgamesh's journey is larger than life, yet ends so commonly with death. Through Gilgamesh, the fate of mankind is revealed, and the inevitable factor of change is expressed.
The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey both are held in high respect by literature analysts and historians alike for the characterization of the hero and his companion, the imagery brought to mind when one of them is read, and the impressive length in relation to the time period it was written in. The similarities that these two epics share do not end with only those three; in fact, the comparability of these works extend to even the information on the author and the archetypes used. However, The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh contrast from one another in their writing styles, character details, and main ideas. Both epics weave together a story of a lost man who must find his way, but the path of their stories contrast from one another.
Erik Erikson was a psychologist specializing in post Freudian studies. Many ideas and foundations of his theories came from the Freud way of thinking. Erickson could be considered a neo Freudian, someone who is influenced by and still practices elements of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis. Erik Erikson’s development theory expanded on Freud’s original five stages of development, consisting of a new eight psychosocial stages of development known as The Life Cycle. The ego and sexual development are a large focus for Erik Erikson’s stages. In each of his stages there are two main terms for the child to learn and they are always opposites of each other. In addition to psychologists today still using Erikson’s stages of development for assessments on patients, research is still being conducted to prove the validity of Erikson’s design. His work is important to various areas of psychology including development and personality.
Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development were complex, but simple. It is something everyone will go through and experiences will always be different. The lack of reinforcement to the positive aspects of his stages can lead to quite a disaster. Surprisingly, previous stages are highly influential to the proceeding stage. The lack of reinforcement to the positive aspects of his psychosocial stages can have a very devastating effect on a person. This is because the effects built up rather than taking the place of one another. The effects are quite horrifying, but with the right environment, experiences and beliefs, everything can go well.
Psychosocial development is development on a social realm. Psychosocial development is how one develops their mind, maturity level, and emotions over the course of one’s life. The rate of development depends on different factors such as biological processes as well as environmental factors. A man named Erik Erikson who was a psychoanalyst who believed that early childhood successes and failures were responsible for influencing later developmental stages developed this theory. Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is based around the theory that social experience has an impact over an entire lifespan. There are eight stages developmental stages of development in the psychosocial theory and I will briefly examine all eight stages in this
Government Surveillance today has changed from what it used to be. Technology has expanded through the past several decades and the government’s monitoring abilities have also expanded tremendously. Since the September 11, 2001 9/11 terrorist attacks, government surveillance has become more a part of everyday life. Government surveillance is said to help in efforts of capturing terrorists and stopping terrorist attacks before they even happen. But how much of our civil liberties are we giving up in order to maybe help capture some terrorists. The rapidly advancing technology of today and a more globalizing culture has made privacy and civil liberties come more into the forefront of our views. After about nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the government surveillance system put into place to keep the United States safe, is so massive that its effectiveness is becoming questionable.
In terms of government intelligence, in the information age greatest threats to privacy have been the result of technology and business practices related to e-commerce, marketing and information databases, and not the result of government intrusions (Hoffman, Novak & Peralta, 1997). Nevertheless “all things considered, the increasing and overlapping information sharing by governments and businesses about formerly confidential or private activities generates concerns about potential violations of individual’s privacy rights” (Mace, 2008 cited in Gal, Kantor & Lesk, 2008, p.41).