Well-Informed: Privacy and Security

Privacy is a very controversial topic in the United States because not everyone agrees on what should be considered private. One side of the argument says that our right to privacy is protected by the Fourth Amendment, and that any infringement of privacy, especially by the government, should be deemed unconstitutional. 54% of Americans disapprove of the government collecting phone and internet data, according to a 2015 Pew Research poll. 42%, however, said that they approve (the remaining percent is attributed to people who refused to respond or said they did not know). These percentages illustrate the first major dilemma. The definition of privacy is extremely relative. Some people believe that governmental overreach is necessary for national security, among other things. They would argue that the government can't protect the citizens if they know nothing about them.

In an opinion article published on CNN.com, Glenn Sulmasy writes that, "what might have been reasonable 10 years ago is not the same any longer." He is referring to the "jihadist" threat being more imminent than ever. He also touches on how the rapid development and innovation of the technology industry has led to more platforms for "home grown" terrorism. He also states that technology has been beneficial for the purpose of gathering intelligence. I think this statement reflects a general trend of fear that has caused privacy to take a back seat to national security.

Many people are terrified of the Internet and other technological forms of communication. They think that the government can monitor their every move, from their cell phone to their computer activity. This is essentially true, though we cannot know for sure how extensively they can monitor our activity. Being a member of a younger generation, I've given up on anything I do being private, especially when technology is involved. This topic always reminds me of the uproar that resulted after Facebook started giving data about users to advertisers. Even though the data was impersonal and had more to do with demographic information than it did personal details, people were distraught. This example, however, shows how nothing is really private nowadays, especially not online. Every click, every search, and every "like" is stored somewhere and seen by someone.

Privacy is a peculiar topic to me because there are people who preach the Fourth Amendment, yet they post their entire lives on social media. Every time you search for Donald Trump, you are setting yourself up to be bombarded by his ads. Every time you buy Nike shoes on Amazon, you can expect to see Nike ads and commercials on every site you visit. Behavioral targeting has become a common practice, but to some it is considered a complete breach of privacy. After all, websites are essentially selling your activity to advertisers so that they can profit off of you. This concept often goes unnoticed, though, since we live in such a commercialized society. That leads back to the disinterest that I mentioned before. People are so dependent on technology, and that trend is a gold mine as far as government intelligence agencies are concerned. If we are putting all of our information into technology anyway, I don't understand why people are up in arms about the government using this information to protect us. There is definitely a line, and the government might be walking on it at some times, but I don't think they've crossed it yet.