Technology Or Privacy? Essay, Research Paper
George Orwell said it best in his novel 1984; Big Brother Is Watching you . He
wrote these words in 1949. Who would have thought that fifty years from then it is
becoming reality instead of fiction? It now seems as if technology makes the planet
revolve. I will discuss certain aspects of the issue over privacy rights in conjunction with
technology. In this paper I will prove that the government, businesses, and individuals
have access to almost anyone s information. I will also prove that this will neither end,
nor slow down. I will also offer theories about government cover-ups.
Anything you store on your computer can be used against you. (Wang, p.69) The
government has access to every bit of information you put on a form. Anything from
medical records to credit reports. Even your most sensitive information is available to the
government. Virtually every major change in life is recorded somewhere in a government
files. Shortly after you are born, a birth certificate is issued. When you obtain a driver’s
license, get married, buy a house, or file a lawsuit, these events are recorded in
public documents easily available to you and to others. (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse,
http://www.privacyrights.org/FS/fs11-pub.htm) Businesses also have access to sensitive
information such as credit reports and credit card numbers. In fact, anyone with a
justifiable business need for it has access to it. Spamming is also a loss of privacy.
Spamming is junk mail on your computer. Often its advertisements for money making
schemes, business opportunities, or even pornography. Some people sell e-mail addresses
to businesses to make money. Also, when you put your e-mail address on forms, you run
the risk of it being sold to businesses for the purpose of spamming. The cost of spamming
is low, therefore, even if one percent of the people spammed actually read and do what the
spam asks them to do, it will cover the minimal costs of spamming. Telemarketers also
interfere with peoples privacy. Technology such as national phone number databases and
automated dialing machines allow telemarketers to reach nearly anyone with a phone line.
With the right tools, any ordinary person can gain access to your personal information.
Computer hacking is one way; computer viruses known as Trojans can give allow
sensitive information to be revealed to a curious hacker. (Wang, 301) I was the victim of
a Trojan this past summer. The person who put the Trojan on my computer had access to
everything on my hard drive including my passwords. These are not easily detected unless
you are careful and know what to look for. One might think that they have complete
privacy, but little do they know a person two blocks away or two hundred thousand miles
away could have access to their information. Interactions between people that are
mediated by technology are prone to both conscious and inadvertent intrusions on
privacy (Bellotti, 66)
Technology is growing at an unbelievable rate. Within a period of about fifteen
years, the Internet has gone from a medium used strictly by universities, scientists, and the
military to a global medium used for everything from education to entertainment by a
majority of the US population. According to research by MIT, the size of the Internet
tripled from 1993 to 1996. (Internet Growth – Summary,
http://www.mit.edu/people/mkgray/net/internet-growth-summary.html) By the year 2000,
it is projected that nearly half of the population of the world that speaks English will have
Internet access. (Global Internet Statistics, http://www.euromktg.com/globstats/) Will
this growing ever stop? I can t predict the future, but I would be willing to bet that it
won t. It is now common wisdom that the power, capacity and speed of information
technology is accelerating rapidly. The extent of privacy invasion – or certainly the
potential to invade privacy – increases correspondingly. (Privacy International,
http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/Overview.html#Heading2) The Internet is
accessible to anybody. Therefore, the people who use it are accessible to anybody.
It is my firm belief, that the government has more technology than we could ever
dream of that we do not know about. The Manhattan project, a well known example, in
the 1940 s gave the United States the ability to destroy the world. This top secret project
created nuclear weapons. Civilians and most military personnel had no idea this was even
going on. This was developed to end World War II, little did they know that this
technology could destroy the world. The Central Intelligence Agency s main function is
espionage. The government grants them the right to spy on other countries, so what is
stopping them from spying on us? Nothing. Law enforcement has the ability to track
people with cellular telephones. (EPIC, http://www.epic.org/privacy/#hot) Here is
another thing to think about: As reported in Wired News, Image Data — a company
ostensibly seeking to provide a new method of stopping credit card and check fraud — has
been building a database of cross-referenced photographs and purchase histories.
Documents obtained by EPIC through Freedom of Information Act requests show the role
of the Secret Service in directing and funding Image Data’s pilot programs. In its project
of establishing an unprecedented national identity database, Image Data purchases driver’s
license photos without the permission or knowledge of citizens. (EPIC,
http://www.epic.org/privacy/#hot) The next time you pick up your telephone, how can
you be sure that someone from the government (who s salary you help pay to protect you)
is not listening in on your conversation? According to the Electronic Privacy Information
Center (EPIC), the request for federal and state wiretaps and bugs increased 12%. (EPIC,
http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/) Should the government be trusted? Would you
believe me if I told you that the government bribed phone companies to make wiretapping
and bugging easy? Its true. EPIC reports: On the last night of the 1994 session,
Congress enacted the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA),
sometimes called the “Digital Telephony” bill. CALEA requires telephone firms to make it
easy to wiretap the nation’s communication system. The bill faced strong opposition from
industry and civil liberties organizations, but was adopted in the closing hours of Congress
after the government offered to pay telephone companies $500,000,000 to make the
proposed changes. EPIC opposed passage of the bill and believes that the government has
failed to justify the $500,000,000 appropriation required. (EPIC,
http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/) If it makes it easier for law enforcement to tap,
doesn t that make it easier for curious civilians to tap? I believe that the government
should be using their power to protect our privacy instead of encroaching it.
All in all, I believe our privacy is in jeopardy. The government is the catalyst for
technology increasing. As long as it is growing the greater loss of privacy we have. Its
inevitable, this trend of technology forces privacy out the window. People just like us
within the government are allowing this to happen; this is what scares me. I began this
essay with a quote that has turned out to be true, and I will end with one that I hope
doesn t come true. It seems as if we are well on the road to it becoming true. It s in
your nature to destroy yourselves – The Terminator (speaking about humankind)
References:
Agre, P.; Belloti, V.; et al. (1997). Technology and Privacy: The New Landscape.
Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press
Wang, W. (1998) Steal This Computer Book San Francisco: No Starch Press
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse,
http://www.privacyrights.org/FS/fs11-pub.htm
Internet Growth – Summary,
http://www.mit.edu/people/mkgray/net/internet-growth-summary.html
Global Internet Statistics,
http://www.euromktg.com/globstats/
Privacy International,
http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/Overview.html#Heading2
Electronic Privacy Information Center,
http://www.epic.org/privacy/#hot
http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/