Article Summary: Why Privacy Matters

Kuok Chong I
ESLL26
Professor Collato
01/30/15

If a person “has nothing to hide,” then he/she should be bothered by the fact that the government collects, tracks and analyze our personal, private information

Nowadays, with the advancements in modern technology, it is easy for the government to monitor our every single act in our daily lives. Everywhere there are public-surveillance cameras. Our phone calls, emails, bank transactions and any other activities are being tracked. Every second, the government is collecting numerous amounts of information from us to detect any unusual activities in the society. Although what the government does can somehow create a safer society for us, our privacy rights are gradually diminishing. Not only is
privacy a fundamental human right, but it is also an important element of a free society. As a supporter of human privacy, I strongly disagree with the argument that if a person has nothing to hide, then he or she will not be bothered by the fact that the government collects, tracks and analyses our information. Our privacy is currently being invaded and the more vigorous future invasion is alarming us. To begin with, the nothing-to-hide argument is ridiculous because it is impossible for us to have nothing to hide.
We have a fundamental need for privacy because all of us have things that we want to hide from others. For example, we may be involved in a crime intentionally sometimes. When we download songs online and share them to others, we are violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This will surely cause a lot of troubles for us. Fortunately, with the aid of privacy, we can hide our transgressions and get rid of the trouble. Not only can privacy help us hide something bad, but it can also help us hide something secret. In the article “Why Privacy Matters Even If You Have Nothing To Hide,” Daniel J. Solove shares an example that all of us will not want to show others our naked photos (342). This is a strong example to show we need privacy for hiding things other than bad things from others. It is impossible for a human being to have nothing to hide and our lives are surely being bothered by government’s
surveillance.
Moreover, the government’s surveillance will cause a lot of problems for our lives. We will never know what happens to our personal information under the government’s control. Abuses or misuse of our data may happen and the result will be noxious. Solove shares George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four to show the problems caused by government’s monitoring and controlling of people and Franz Kafka’s The Trial to show the problems caused by the government’s secret processing of information collected from people (342-44). From the two metaphors that Solove shares, we can see how the government’s surveillance bothers us even if we have nothing to hide. Also, Solove discusses the four potential problems caused by the government’s gathering of information: aggregation, exclusion, secondary use and distortion (344-45). According to the article “3 Reasons the ‘Nothing to Hide’ Crowd Should Be Worried About Government Surveillance”, the federal government has mishandled their surveillance power in the past (Shackford). Not only do abuses invade our privacy rights, but they also bring troubles to our daily lives due to misuse of our personal information. Like us, government members are also human beings and some of them may involve in illegal activities. It is very insecure to let these dangerous people to know our personal information and they may even threaten our lives. Some people who make up the government are dangerous (Shackford). We are facing a vast array of problems every day due to the government’s surveillance and our lives are drastically bothered. Therefore, having our own privacy is not just for hiding something. Privacy can prevent our daily lives from being bothered, and it is also a very essential defense to us.
Critics of my position may say the government have heard our voice and loosened their surveillance rules so that they will not bother us much.
According to the New York Times, President Obama loosened the US government’s surveillance rules last year (Keller et al.). While this may be true, our privacy is still being invaded because the government is still collecting information from us. More importantly, the government may change their surveillance rule in the near future again. Now we are happy that they loosen their surveillance rule, however, we cannot predict what will happen in the future. The changes in the government’s surveillance rules in the future may be too unreasonable that everyone opposes them. However it is too late because we cannot get our privacy back from the government
anymore.
In conclusion, it is totally wrong that if a person has nothing to hide, then he or she will not be bothered by the fact that the government collects, tracks and analyses our information. It is easy to dismiss the nothing-to-hide argument. Privacy is not just for hiding transgressions. There are secrets that can be hidden using privacy. They vary from the person’s cultures, background and the situation. Not only is our privacy being invaded by the government’s surveillance, but it also causes serious problems to our daily lives. It is not guaranteed that our information will be safe under the government’s handle. Privacy, being a fundamental human need, is a way to protect us. It can prevent us from being bothered by unnecessary troubles and also bring relief to everyone. Although there are incidents showing the government’s success in tracking terrorists, I believe it is not worth it for us to sacrifice our privacy. Even if we have nothing to hide, we are still being bothered by the government’s surveillance. For the sake of our future, we have to start defending our privacy before it is too late.

Work Cited
Solove, Daniel J. "Why Privacy Matters Even If You Have ‘Nothing to Hide’" Reading Critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. By Rise B. Axelrod, Charles Raymond Cooper, and Alison M. Warriner. New York: Bedford/St. Martin 's, 2014. 341-46. Print.
Shackford, Scott. "3 Reasons the 'Nothing to Hide ' Crowd Should Be Worried About Government Surveillance." Reason.com. N.p., 12 June 2013. Web. 19 Jan. 2015.
Keller, Josh, et al. "Obama’s Changes to Government Surveillance." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 26 Jan. 2015.