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What technological and digital innovations threaten privacy
Government surveillance systems
Government surveillance systems
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You’re being watched- everything you do is being recorded by the government. One might think the sentence before is referring to to a dystopian novel, such as 1984, only, it’s not. This is a startling truth of the twenty-first century. Along with rapidly advancing technology, the government is following the average American citizen closer. To the shock of the public in June 2013, Edward Snowden released information concerning a government programme, the National Security Agency, that has been listening in on virtually all phone conversation and viewing almost all internet activity(Gidda "Edward Snowden and the NSA files – timeline".)If Oceania had the technology that is available to society today, our world would parallel that of 1984.
Since 1948, technology has become extensively more high-tech. Unforeseen items such as the modern day computer, video game consoles, cellular telephones, and the internet have become realities. Prior to Edward Snowden, many were unaware that the government was tracking their every click and navigation. Not to mention every call, text, posting, and email. In June 8th, 2013, Snowden publicly released information on a tool that the National Security Agency uses to collect information on its citizens (Gidda "Edward Snowden and the NSA files – timeline"). This information is supposedly supposed to foil the plot of future terrorists, but even high government officials doubt its actually use. Instead of using the mass collection of data, obtaining a court order or warrant would align better with the wishes of the constitution on which the country is based (Elliot "Is the NSA Really Preventing Terrorist Attacks?".) For example, in the news six muslim men have even been allegated as terrorists because of the...
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...Is the NSA Really Preventing Terrorist Attacks?." Pacific Standard. ProPublica, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. .
Gidda, Mirren. "Edward Snowden and the NSA files – timeline." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 26 July 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. .
"NSA spied on porn habits, HuffPo reports." USA Today. Gannett, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. .
"Over 700,000 people on US watch list: Once you get on, there's no way off - RT USA." Over 700,000 people on US watch list: Once you get on, there's no way off - RT USA. Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “TV-Novosti”, 2 Dec. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. .
...d Upon.” The New American 1 July 2013: 19. InfoTrac War and Terrorism Collection. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
In 1984 George Orwell describes how no matter where you go in Oceania there is
"The Triumph of Technique – The Logic of the NSA." LibrarianShipwreck. WordPress.com, 22 June 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014.
...ary of 2013 demonstrated that the government's claims that over fifty terrorist threats had been averted (Bruce, 2013) were misleading and that it was standard investigative procedures, such as informants, tip offs and targeted operations that yielded positive results in nearly all cases. The NSA input was minimal and that only 1.8% of cases where initiated by its mass data collection programs. (Bergen et al., 2014)These inefficiencies are what Matthew Duffin; assistant professor at Utah Valley University believes are unethical. (Archner, 2014)
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
Whether the U.S. government should strongly keep monitoring U.S. citizens or not still is a long and fierce dispute. Recently, the debate became more brutal when technology, an indispensable tool for modern live, has been used by the law enforcement and national security officials to spy into American people’s domestic.
Imagine being watched by your own government every single second of the day with not even the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen and all the above to yourself. George Orwell’s 1984 is based on a totalitarian government where the party has complete access over the citizens thoughts to the point where anything they think they can access it, and control over the citizens actions, in a sense that they cannot perform what they really want to or else Big Brother, which is the name of the government in the book 1984, will “take matters into their own hands.” No one acts the same when they are being watched, as they do when they are completely alone.
O'NEIL, D. E. (2014, April 20). White House Begins New Effort to Defend Surveillance Program . Retrieved from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/politics/23cnd-wiretap.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
1984, a novel by George Orwell, represents a dystopian society in which the people of Oceania are surveilled by the government almost all the time and have no freedoms. Today, citizens of the United States and other countries are watched in a similar way. Though different technological and personal ways of keeping watch on society than 1984, today’s government is also able to monitor most aspects of the people’s life. 1984 might be a dystopian society, but today’s condition seems to be moving towards that controlling state, where the citizens are surveilled by the government at all times.
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...
Many citizens today are truly unaware of how much of their private lives are made public. With new technological advances, the modern democratic government can easily track and survey citizens without their knowledge. While the government depicted in 1984 may use gadgets such as telescreens and moderators such as the Thought Police, these ideas depicted can be seen today in the ever evolving democratic government known to be the "equivalent" of the people's voice. Orwell may have depicted a clearer insight into modern day surveillance than one may have imagined from this "fictional" novel. Furthermore, a totalitarianism based government is a dictatorship, in which the dictator is not limited by constitutional laws or further opposition.
This world has changed, even as 20 years old, I am afraid of where technology is going already everyone is glued to it; as a kid computers were new, but we didn’t care we played outside, and cell phones were for emergencies, not fun. Due to technology privacy almost doesn’t exist in this day of technology anymore, there are secret spy cameras being placed in homes by jealous friends or family; social media sites pushing you to spill your age, looks, feelings, life story, and more, and “Big Brother” and “Little Brother” everywhere. Everyone has to be careful because everywhere there is someone trying to steal someone’s identity whether the reason is for money, for legality in a new country, or even to hide a past troubled life. Privacy in the world has been, is now, and always will be extremely important. Growing up in school after getting my first cell phone I was fascinated with new technology and couldn’t wait for the next cell phone to be released. I was always highly interested in what was next, but that was then when I was a young and obvious little kid, now as a young adult in this day of age I have an entirely different feel for all of it; privacy no longer exists and technology is the primary blame.
“I always feel like somebody's watching me and I have no privacy.” These are the famous lyrics from one of Michael Jackson's hit songs Somebody’s Watching Me. Now, back when this song was created, there was not as much worry about people constantly being watched by cameras, but it seems to fit in the problem that my generation is facing. In the book 1984, written by George Orwell, the society is always being watched through a device called a telescreen. The main character, Winston, has trouble adjusting to the life of always being monitored, and the fact that if you made one mistake you could be tortured or killed. This book was made in the late 1940’s and was written to show what the predicted future would be like. Many people who have read
The Web. The Web. 28 Oct. 2015. The "Edward Snowden Biography." Bio.com.
Privacy is the ability to maintain what or who can access and see your personal content and information. With that, the idea of privacy is different amongst different cultures and countries, while they all differ, they share common characteristics. The act of sharing ones own personal information is decision one must make on their own. Privacy is a right that all people should have and the government has the responsibility of maintaining that right. Data such as personal emails, bank details, medical records, and passwords need to remain safe and secure to ensure privacy is not invaded.