Your Privacy Magnified Research Paper

Your Privacy, Magnified

English 122: English Composition II

May 30, 2013

Your Privacy, Magnified
Introduction
A few years ago, a prominent personality once said, “You have zero privacy. You should learn to get over it.” This statement sparked a fierce debate across America with people terming those words as insensitive. However, the truth of the matter is that these words, however harsh they may seem, are 100 percent true. On the same note, other top executives such as the CEO of Google and Facebook have reiterated on the same. The world has been experiencing advancements in communication and technology and this usually come with their fair deal of benefits and on the hand, fair deal of consequences. The advancement
of technology in the 21st century, coupled with the advancement communication and interaction techniques, are majorly to blame for breach of privacy of the human beings in the 21st century. The breach of privacy in the life of the human beings can be evidenced in all aspects of the life of the human being such as the social life, economic life, and religious life among others. According to Lyon (2011), privacy can be termed as the interest that people usually have in sustaining a personal space that is free from meddling by other individuals or organizations. In addition, as Lyon (2011) notes, one can view privacy in four critical dimensions. These dimensions include privacy of the person, privacy of the personal behavior of a person, privacy of personal data, and privacy to personal communication. By critically analyzing these four dimensions, this paper will show that the advancement in technology and social communication has made it impossible for an individual to have privacy in the 21st century.
Privacy of the person This is the first dimension that concerns an individual. According to Lyon (2011), privacy of the person is usually concerned with the integrity of a person’s body. For example, it may include issues such as immunization, sterilization, blood transfusion among others. In addition, it also consists of the personal issues that affect a particular individual. One of the personal areas of privacy of an individual is in the issue of health. Over the past decade, there has been a great change in the way the healthcare facilities guarantee the privacy of the patients. It is important to note that in the 21st century, ensuring privacy of the personal information of the patients has become almost impossible (Garfinkel, 2000). Some centuries back, when a patient visited a health care facility for treatment, they used to record the information of the patient on a paper. The relevant authorized people are the only ones that could access this paper. In those times, the breach of privacy was not rampant. However, due to other problems that were associated with keeping papers containing sensitive information about patients, an electronic system of keeping important information about patients was adapted. This electronic system of storing information about a patient has been facilitated by the advancement of technology in the world. Through several examples, one will see that personal privacy about the health of an individual is very difficult to maintain. As Lyon (2011) notes, when one visits a health care facility, the doctor gathers a considerable amount of information about a patient such as, the weight of the patient, the prescription data about the patient among others. This information is usually keyed into an electronic database. The main of the electronic database is to ensure that this information is protected. However, this may not always be the case as there are times when data breaches take place. A data breach infringes on the personal privacy of a patient. For example, as Lyon (2011) notes, in the year 2006, personal medical data on about 360,000 patients were lost when a car intruder made away with tapes and disks from an van that was being used by an employee in Providence Health and Services. On the same note, the United States Department of Health and Human Services listed about 350 cases where there were medical breaches in just a period of two years (Keeler, 2009). In these cases, at least 500 people were affected in each of the cases. Privacy of a person can also be analyzed when one looks at the daily life of an individual. On a daily basis, an individual engages in many activities. In the course of engaging in their activities, their privacy may be breached either knowingly or unknowingly. For example, when a person is on his or her way driving to work, one may pass a smart billboard, which uses Immersive Laboratory software. According to Lyon (2011), such billboards usually have the ability to target a person with some specific advertisements. This is because the billboards may be able to track the gender, age, the speed of the vehicle and the time that an individual took to look at the billboard. Another example of this is, when one is driving to work; the license plate of their car can be scanned and collected by the police or even private surveillance services. This form of surveillance on a person is acceptable by the law. In addition, is widely used by some of the law enforcement agencies around America. As Lyon (2011) says, recently, there was a political uproar involving a tracking device known as OnStar, which tracks the location of a person. It was argued that even after one had cancelled the service with the company, OnStar secretly continued to track an individual. In the 21st century, the spread of technology and technological gadgets has been very high. In this information age, people are introduced to the use of computers at a very young age. In addition, nowadays, most of the people own or have access to a computer, a laptop, or even a tablet. According to Lyon (2011), when one is using his or her computer, they are usually prone to breach of their personal privacy. This is because; there is powerful software that people might use to gain access to the personal laptop or computer of a person. An example of such software is Fire sheep. By using this software, a person can be able to watch the activities of a person and in addition, the person can be able to steal the identity of that person. Through the advancement of technology, one can be able to get directions to a place, or even view a certain place on the comfort of their couches. This has been made through Google Street view. As much as this application is an advantage to people who may want to know about a place, the application can also be used to breach on the personal privacy of a person. For example, a stranger may take a photograph of a person’s house without the understanding and consent of the owner. In a more serious case, a person may also use Google Street view to see a person in his or her bathrobe and even take photographs of them. However, as Lyon (2011) notes, the features of Google Street view vary depending on the country. For example, in Germany, Google Street view has been limited in taking photographs of people and buildings thereby guaranteeing some form of privacy on the individuals. On the other hand, in some of the American cities, Google Street view is not limited. One can be able to see people coming out of shops and restaurants, trash that is piled in the yards among others. On the streets of most of the major cities in the world, there are usually surveillance cameras.
This is the same case in the most of the buildings especially building housing banks. These gadgets use the latest technology for them to operate. They were invented to ensure that the security of the people and other valuable property is guaranteed. The surveillance cameras that are installed in the various places have been set up in the 21st century. In the past centuries, there were no surveillance cameras in the streets and in most of the buildings. However, with the increasing technology, the surveillance cameras can now be found on almost all of the big cities and in addition in almost all of the commercial buildings. As Lyon (2011) notes, it is almost impossible for a person to out in public without being recorded. In a study that was conducted by the New York Civil Liberties Union, it was established that there are over 4,400 surveillance cameras in some of the few concentrated areas in Harlem and Manhattan alone (Lyon, 2011). This study was carried out in the year 2005 meaning that the number of surveillance cameras could have been doubled by now. These surveillance cameras invade on the privacy of an individual. People have learnt to accept being spied upon by the surveillance cameras because it is usually taken as a precautionary measure to guarantee the safety of the people and the people’s
property. By looking at the workplace, one can be able to realize that it is very difficult to guarantee the privacy of people at work. As Lyon (2011) notes, when a person enters in the office building to report to work, one usually uses a security badge to enter or exit into the organization’s building. These security badges contain the personal information about each of the employees in the organization. By using the badges that the employees use to enter and leave the organization premises, the employers can be able to track their workers movements within the organization. According to a research study carried out, it was established that some of the employers usually use the badges to track the activities of their workers citing that the use of the badges improves the efficiency in the organization. It is important to note that tracking the movements and the activities of an employee in the organization amounts to breach of the personal privacy of the employees. For this reason, it is possible for one to say that in the 21st century, it is very difficult to guarantee personal privacy to the employees in an organization. In the 21st century, the modes that have been used for traveling have also changed considerably. With the invention of the airplane, people can move from one corner of the earth to another within a short time. However, with the advancement in the methods that people usually use for transport, it has emerged that it is almost impossible to guarantee travelers of their privacy when they want to travel. Due to the ever-increasing threat of terrorism, some adverse measures have been taken to ensure that all modes of transport are protected from possible attacks by terrorists. The most affected mode of transport that has been affected by this is air transport. In a bid to improve and guarantee passengers using planes of their safety, the privacy of the passengers has been compromised. According to Garfinkel (2000), Vivid Technologies is a company that makes sophisticated screening. These screening systems use artificial intelligence and X-rays in order for them to locate any guns, drugs, or explosives that a passenger may have hidden in their luggage. In this process, the personal privacy of the passengers is breached because those people operating the screening systems can be able to tell everything that each of the passengers has carried in their luggage.
Privacy of personal behavior According to Garfinkel (2000), the privacy of personal behavior usually has a relation to most of the aspects of the behavior of a person. In addition, it includes sensitive behaviors of a person such as the political activities of a person, the sexual preference of a person, religious practices in both public and private places among others. When people get to interact, it is possible to tell the behavior of a particular person after an interaction. In the past, the technology was not quite advanced for this reason; people could not interact as much as they could in the present society. Due to the advancements in technology, many things that facilitate interactions have been invented. A good example is the social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. According to Adams (2010), sometimes back, the social site, Facebook introduced a new feature known as frictionless sharing where could be able to share their location, and in addition, search strings with some of the advertisers. Some of these features usually allow supercookies, which track the activity of a person across various websites. In addition, it is usually very difficult to remove the supercookies once they are in one’s computer. Therefore, once a person computer has supercookies, his or her privacy in the internet will be compromised because a person will have the ability to track the websites that the individual has visited. As Adam (2010) notes, there is one reason that may be used to clarify the reason as to why privacy is eroding in the social sites. This is that some of the people surrender their personal details on the social media sites in exchange for a discount. Numerous examples may be used to demonstrate how social media has led to the infringement of privacy of personal behavior. According to Lyon (2011), some years ago, there was an article on The Wall Street Journal, which was titled, “When the most personal secrets get outed on Facebook.” In the article, the story of two college students was narrated. The story is about the accidental publishing on Facebook of the sexual orientations of the two students. Due to a feature in Facebook where one could be able to add a person to a group without their consent, the two students were added to a group that apparently was for people who prefer same sex relationships. This action undermined the privacy of personal behavior of the two students. In another case, a schoolteacher was fired because the privacy of her personal behavior was not observed. In this case, the teacher took and posted pictures of her taking a glass of beer. In addition to this, the teacher updated her status on Facebook. The status that she updated was vulgar and this is what cost her job.
Privacy of personal data According to Adams (2010), privacy of personal data is whereby a person can be able to exercise a substantial degree of power and control over their data and its usage. In addition, people note that in the privacy of personal data, the personal data about the individuals should not be available to other individuals or even organizations except themselves. In this current generation where the technology is widespread across the world, many people own television sets. When a person turns on their television sets to catch the latest news of follow up on their favorite program, it is possible that one will be monitored. This is because of the growing reliance on the internet protocols that are used to distribute signals to the cable or even the satellite providers. For this reason, it is possible for the satellite provider to be able to determine what a person has been watching and for what period a person has been watching television (Keeler, 2009). For this reason, the cable or the satellite providers can compromise the privacy about one’s personal data in terms of usage. The internet is one of the main factors for the rapid advancement of technology around the world. Through the internet, people from all over the world may be able to share ideas in the fastest way possible. Despite the good tidings that have been brought about by the internet, there are some negative things concerning one’s privacy that may be associated with the internet. When one uses an online search engine to check up on something, some aspects of the privacy of personal data of an individual are infringed upon. According to Garfinkel (2000), for example, if one uses Google, then their query is added to the largest collection of sourced data in the world. A pop up window may emerge in the screen requesting the user to take part in an online survey. By taking part in the survey, the user usually hand over a substantial list of personal private data. Companies usually use this data to pitch some of their products on the users. In another instance, in the course of a person going through the internet in a computing session, one may decide to visit a website such as MSN where one may download a supercookie. As stated earlier, when a supercookie is installed in one’s computer, it is very difficult to remove it from the computer system. It usually resists any efforts by the user to delete it. It is important to note that a supercookie is bad because it collects information about the activities about a person on the internet. The supercookie will infringe on the privacy of personal data of a person (Adams, 2010). Another instance when the privacy of personal data may be infringed upon is, when one enters a library to check out a book. In the 21st century, activities such as checking out a book in the library are done electronically due to the available technology. This is unlike in the past where checking out a book in the library was usually done in a manual form. By using the electronic system of checking out a book in the library, the rental history of a person is sent to a central database. If one uses a library computer, then the person’s activity is usually recorded. According to Adams (2010), librarians usually have a good record of protecting the user’s data. However, in some instances, the data of a user may be accessed by an unauthorized person leading to the infringement of the privacy of personal data. In most cases, the librarian can usually monitor the public computers in the library and intervene when they feel that there could be a violation of the library policies. This amounts to spying of the privacy of personal data of an individual. In another case, the technology has revolutionized the manner in which people make their purchases. Some decades ago, people had to go physically to a location in order to make their purchases. However, with the advancement of technology in the world, people in the 21st century can make their purchases of various products online. According to Adams (2010), in most of the instances when a person is making online purchases, the privacy of personal data is usually compromised. For example, if a person wants to purchase an e-book online, the vendors such as Amazon will get to know information about the purchase, and in the same case, the credit card issuer may also get to know about the purchase and the same case extends to the bank. In addition, depending on the type of transaction that a person may engage in, some of the third party payment companies such as PayPal may also know the transaction. Finally, there is also privacy of personal data in the homes of people. According to Adams (2010), the household of an individual is usually part of a smart grid of energy supply and demand. For this reason, at a minimum, the information about the supply and demand of energy is a person’s house is conveyed between the smart mater and the utility. In addition, this information might be shared with the third party energy management companies leading to an infringement in the privacy of personal data usage in the household.
Privacy of personal communication According to Keeler (2009), privacy of personal communication is whereby the individuals usually claim the right to be able to communicate among on another by use of various media without their communication being monitored by other people or organizations. In the revolutionized world, it is very difficult to maintain privacy in personal communication. As Keeler (2009) notes, when a person makes a call, the service provider usually knows the people that the person has called and the duration of each of the calls. On the same note, a person’s mobile phone usually pings cell towers in such a manner that a person can be able to tell the exact position of a person. Despite the fact this could be important in search and rescue missions, it is important to note that the privacy of personal communication of an individual is usually compromised.
Conclusion
It is without doubt that the advancement in technology and communication has been of great advantage to human beings.
However, some significant issues have been raised regarding the effects of advancement in technology and communication. As seen from the paper, privacy has been the main issue that has been raised. It is evident that in the 21st century, there is technology in almost all aspects in the life of the human beings. Through the advancement in technology and social communication, maintaining the privacy of the human beings has become virtually impossible. For this reason, as long as there will be the continuation in the advancements in technology and social communication, people should learn to live without
privacy.

References

Adams, R. H. (2010). Privacy in the 21st century: Issues for public, school, and academic libraries. Sunbury, MA: Oxford.

Garfinkel, S. (2000). Database nation: The death of privacy in the 21st century. New Jersey, NJ: O 'Reilly Media.
Keeler, R. M. (2009). Nothing to hide: Privacy in the 21st century. New York, NY: Prentice Hall Publishers.
Lyon, D. (2011). Surveillance studies: An overview. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Publishers Ltd.