Privacy

Privacy is something that we lose more and more each day as technological advancements improve. The government basically has a "portrait of how private citizens interact. It is a disturbing trend that we see all too often.

Facial recognition is one of those applications that have undergone advancements as time has gone on, as displayed in the first Ted Talk. The unsettling thing that is associated with this, is when you open your photos and it displays examples of all the people who you have taken pictures with.

The automatic license plate reader is another one of those applications that is intrusive to people's privacy. License plate readers also known as LPR's convert information on your car into real time information and machine readable texts. They will then cross-check this information on dozens of databases to make sure that your car is not stolen or that you have any outstanding warrants for your arrest. 

While this might seem like a harmless thing, LPRs are not just being used for those reasons and instead, they are utilized to track people's everyday moves and actions. People have recently asked for information based on these allegations and the information that the government has access to far exceeds citizen's comfort level.

This issue is not isolated to only the United States, as mentioned in the 2nd Ted Talk, as the UK also uses these systems. To add to this issue, LPRs are not the only mass tracking system around. A technique known as a cell tower dump, gives law enforcement officers the ability to see who was using their cell phones during a given time. Police departments around the world use this high tech surveillance equipment that often invades people's personal property. 

Telephone companies are to be blamed just as much as other big corporations. I found it interesting when the speaker said that "telephone companies built surveillance features into the very core of their network".

This basically means that when you are talking to people on the phone, anyone who has access to the systems inside your phone will have the ability to access or listen to your conversations. This could be an example of the government spying on your conversation leading to data leaks and confidentiality breaches. These intruders can even be disguised as a hacker or a stalker. 

There are several government officials through the world that think that "government should have unlimited access to emails, texts, phone calls"  .

Revenge porn is the next topic that the Ted Talks talked about, and it is defined as when people post nude or disturbing photos of a person as a means of exhibiting revenge for something that they did in the past. This could be as small as a word that they said or a breakup. According to a study that was explained in the Ted Talk, 1 in 25 women are victims of revenge porn. Incredibly, that number goes to 1 in 10 for people under the-age of 30.

 

When it comes to this topic, internet companies are very non compliant. Cases often fall through the cracks because of the lack of international cooperation. This is where it becomes helpful for the government to have access to this personal information as it helps with solving criminal investigations.

Privacy is something that we have the right to keep private, but more and more, the government continues to push the boundaries of our privacy. More has to be done to set limitations and safeguard against what the government has access to.