Digital Privacy Concerns

1567 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Digital privacy issues

Digital privacy concerns, which have been a major issue in our country since 2001, increasingly violate our basic human rights as global citizens. The growing amount of government surveillance has manifested in the enactment of acts such as SOPA and CISPA. Although their intent on stopping digital piracy and attacks were clear, both were immediately met with harsh criticism; they allowed big corporations to violate our privacy rights by sharing our personal information with both other companies and the government. Our President, although publicly expressing his acknowledgement of the issue, failed to discuss an array of other pressing dilemmas regulated by the recently exposed National Security Agency (NSA), especially those involving the mass data stockpiles and the rights of foreigners against immoderate and disproportionate surveillance by the US. Furthermore, the intentions of the NSA still remain unclear; why is the collection and the extended retention of this data useful? Those in power believe that the collection of this information allows them to preempt terrorist attacks; a very difficult claim to prove. Our lack of clear answers demonstrate the need for a larger audience who support government transparency. The NSA’s misconduct has dealt multiple blows to the rights of millions both at home and abroad, and the amount of secrecy involving this agency shrouds it in obscurity, inhibiting public debate about these crucial matters.

I strongly believe that the protection of our country should not come with the abandonment of our universal rights. Descriptive metadata, or the logging and collection of content into databases, has been taken in excessive amounts; unjustifiably being enforced by the NSA. Section 215 of t...

... middle of paper ...

...s: "The United

Nations General Assembly Must Uphold Individuals' Right to Privacy"." Hrw.org. Human Rights Watch., 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.

PoKempner, Dinah. "PRIVACY IN THE AGE OF SURVEILLANCE." Eurasiareview.com.

Eurasiareview, 18 Feb. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2014

"Chilling Effects: NSA Surveillance Drives U.S. Writers to Self-Censor." Pen.org. Pen America,

12 Nov. 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. PDF File.

Mak, Tim, and Burgess Everett. "Dianne Feinstein on NSA: ‘It’s called protecting America’."

Politico.com. POLITICO, 6 June 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.

Lardinois, Frederic. "Google, Facebook, Dropbox, Yahoo, Microsoft, Paltalk, AOL And Apple Deny Participation In NSA PRISM Surveillance Program." Techcrunch.com. TechCrunch, 6 June 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2014

"US: Urgent Need for Surveillance Reforms."Hrw.org. Human Rights Watch., 11 June 2013.

Web. 23 Feb. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Government Surveillance vs Privacy

    1439 Words  | 3 Pages

    Is the American government trustworthy? Edward Joseph Snowden (2013) released to the United States press* selected information about the surveillance of ordinary citizens by the U.S.A.’s National Security Agency (N.S.A.), and its interconnection to phone and social media companies. The motion picture Citizenfour (2014), shows the original taping of those revelations. Snowden said that some people do nothing about this tracking because they have nothing to hide. He claims that this inverts the model of responsibility. He believes that everyone should encrypt Internet messages and abandon electronic media companies that track personal information and Internet behavior (op.cit, 2014). Snowden also stressed to Lawrence Lessig (2014) the importance of the press and the first amendment (Lessig – Snowden Interview Transcript, [16:28]). These dynamics illustrate Lessig’s (2006) constrain-enable pattern of powers that keep society in check (2006, Code: Version 2.0, p. 122). Consider Lessig’s (2006) question what is “the threat to liberty?” (2006, p. 120). Terrorism is a real threat (Weber, 2013). Surveillance by social media and websites, rather than the government, has the greater negative impact on its users.

    Read More

  • The NSA, Privacy and the War or Terrorism

    1550 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Domestic Surveillance

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to John W. Whitehead, “The fact that the government can now, at any time, access entire phone conversations, e-mail exchanges, and other communications from months or years past should frighten every American.” (Whitehead). The NSA

    Read More

  • US Government Monitoring Its Citizens

    1413 Words  | 3 Pages

    In early June 2013, Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former defense contractor who had access to NSA database while working for an intelligence consulting company, leaked classified documents reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) is recording phone calls of millions of Americans along with gathering private data and spying foreign Internet activity. The Washington Post later broke the news disclosed PRISM, a program can collect data on Internet users. The leaked documents publicly stated a vast objection. Many people were shocked by the scale of the programs, even elected representatives were unaware of the surveillance range. A nationwide debate over privacy rights have been sparked. Although supporters claim that the NSA only does its best to protect the United States from terrorists as well as respecting Americans' rights and privacy, many civil rights advocates feel that the government failed to be clear about the limit of the surveillance programs, threatening Americans' civil...

    Read More

  • Computer Misuse Act Essay

    1226 Words  | 3 Pages

    Personal data are regulated by United Nations and urges States to implement effective measures to ensure t...

    Read More

  • Mass Electronic Surveillance is an Invasion of Privacy

    2476 Words  | 5 Pages

    Privacy is central to our understanding of freedom of expression and thus on a larger scale democracy. Mass surveillance is an invasion of common man’s privacy. Recent development in the way in which technology can invade privacy has heightened the need for greater protection freedom of expression. However, a major problem in this area is that the public are not provided with adequate information to act against such invasion of their rights. To date, there has been little agreement to what extent mass surveillance should be allowed in the name of providing security to the citizen of the country and to what extent privacy of the citizens of other countries should be respected.

    Read More

  • The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

    2043 Words  | 5 Pages

    MacAskill, G. G. (2014, April 28). NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others. Retrieved from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data?guni=Network%20front:network-front%20main-2%20Special%20trail:Network%20front%20-%20special%20trail:Position1

    Read More

  • Individual Privacy versus National Security

    1933 Words  | 4 Pages

    The attacks on American soil that solemn day of September 11, 2001, ignited a quarrel that the grade of singular privacy, need not be given away in the hunt of grander security. The security measures in place were planned to protect our democracy and its liberties yet, they are merely eroding the very existence with the start of a socialistic paradigm. Benjamin Franklin (1759), warned more than two centuries ago: “they that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Implementing security measures comes at a cost both economically and socially. Government bureaucrats can and will utilize information for personal political objectives. The Supreme Court is the final arbitrator of what the ‘law is”, causing a lack of circulated rule. The actual leaders with political purposes jeopardize our individual privacy rights, liberties, and freedoms.

    Read More

  • Internet Privacy: Edward Snowden

    1686 Words  | 4 Pages

    The American government used to be able to keep the people in happy ignorance to the fact that they watch every move they make. After certain revelations of people like Edward Snowden, the public knows the extent of the government spying. On June 5, 2013 Edward Snowden leaked documents of the NSA to the Guardian (The Guardian 2). The whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed to the world how the American government collects information like cell phone metadata, Internet history, emails, location from phones, and more. President Obama labeled the man a traitor because he showed the world the illegal acts the NSA performs on US citizens (Service of Snowden 1). The government breached the people’s security, and now the people are afraid because everyone is aware of how the US disapproves of people who do not agree with their programs. Obama said that these programs find information about terrorists living in the US, but he has lit...

    Read More

  • Privacy vs. Security

    1260 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most people concerned about the privacy implications of government surveillance aren’t arguing for no[sic] surveillance and absolute privacy. They’d be fine giving up some privacy as long as appropriate controls, limitations, oversight and accountability mechanisms were in place. ”(“5 Myths about Privacy”). The fight for privacy rights is by no means a recent conflict.

    Read More

  • Ethics of Surveillance

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    The world erupted in outrage following revelations by Edward Snowden regarding the extent of surveillance perform by the National Security Agency. Privacy becomes one of the hottest topic of 2013 and was chosen by the world’s most popular online dictionary, Dictionary.com, as the Word of the Year. However, the government is not the only one that conduct data gathering and surveillance. Employers often monitor their employees, and businesses collect data on theirs customer. The morality of these practices is a topic that generates heated debate.

    Read More

  • Surveillance and Privacy Issues

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    2) It is getting ever easier to record anything, or everything, that you see. This opens fascinating possibilities-and alarming ones.”

    Read More

  • Social, Ethical, and Legal Issues Faced by an Information Technology Professional

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    Neal, D 2013, PRISM surveillance turned over Google and Yahoo, The Inquirer, accessed 12 November 2013, http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2304070/prism-surveillance-turned-over-google-and-yahoo

    Read More

  • How Technology Impacts Our Privacy

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    As technology penetrates society through Internet sites, smartphones, social networks, and other modes of technology, questions are raised as the whether lines are being crossed. People spend a vast majority of their time spreading information about themselves and others through these various types of technology. The problem with all these variations is that there is no effective way of knowing what information is being collected and how it is used. The users of this revolutionary technology cannot control the fate of this information, but can only control their choice of releasing information into the cyber world. There is no denying that as technology becomes more and more integrated into one’s life, so does the sacrificing of that person’s privacy into the cyber world. The question being raised is today’s technology depleting the level of privacy that each member of society have? In today’s society technology has reduced our privacy due to the amount of personal information released on social networks, smartphones, and street view mapping by Google. All three of these aspects include societies tendency to provide other technology users with information about daily occurrences. The information that will be provided in this paper deals with assessing how technology impacts our privacy.

    Read More

  • Government Secrecy

    643 Words  | 2 Pages

    Government secrecy can include personal files of government employees, tax records of citizens, sensitive records, operations to limit crime, or acts to advance democracy or secure national integrity – such information should never be available to the media or the public. However, when the same government masks extensive police powers, the generation of mass surveillance systems, control the mass media, increase security that limits freedom and information and official accountability wither the government becomes guilty of deception of the public. Therefore, total transparency in a democracy is not suitable, governments need confidentiality from the public. In a post-Snowden age, broad regulations permitting governments to collect data – “The NSA is forbidden to 'target' American citizens, green-card holders or companies for surveillance without an individual warrant from a judge.” – without public knowledge and held in check by the same power that controls the program is unjustifiable. Secrecy is embedded in the partnerships of trust and respect within the public; power is also held on the basis of secrecy. It is more about the set the rules and has the power within that knowledge rather than the information itself. The truth behind the collection of data is unknown to many and may remain that way for some

    Read More

More about Digital Privacy Concerns

Open Document