privacy ted talks

As much as you may think your information is private and protected, you must be careful what data you provide online. 

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Juan Enriquez refers to this information online as "electronic tattoos" because it can provide so much knowledge about you. 

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Catherine Crump details the government's surveillance method involving cameras that scan and photograph every car's license plate as they drive by. While they use this information to look for cars involved in wrongdoing, they also track innocent citizens in case they need this knowledge in the future. 

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Christopher Soghoian expands on how cell phones are built for surveillance, meaning governments, hackers, or large companies have access to any information that go through your phone. In recent times, our phones have been built with strong encryption systems to protect us. However, this has caused disruption in the government because they would like to surveil everyone to watch for terrorists or other dangerous issues. If this happens, innocent citizens will have to forfeit their privacy, a sacrifice many are not willing to make.

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Finn Lützow Holm Myrstad explains the dangers of a doll who listens, speaks, and connects to the internet. Anyone who has a smartphone can connect to the doll and speak to the child playing with the doll. He additionally points out the way people fail to read terms and conditions before signing.  However, this is not the consumers fault; it is the companies who purposely makes the contract so long and difficult to read so that you just sign it without reading. 

These people add unique arguments to the need for more online privacy in this incredibly online world. The examples these four individuals put forth worry and terrify me. My privacy and my family's privacy are important to me. However, I am conflicted because the government's surveillance for terrorists is important to protect the country. I do not know how to feel about this.

What do YOU think?

Privacy or Precaution

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They say Knowledge is Power, but is too much knowledge a thread to your privacy?

The Total Information Awareness was a program by the Department of Defense to monitor the activities of Americans and aliens to protect against terrorists. Pushed by Bush administration, this program's usefulness was reconsidered after the horrifying events on 9/11. Some people saw the T.I.A as a threat to the Privacy Act of 1974, which prevented the government from sharing personal information; other individuals appreciated the program because they felt more protected from terrorists and domestic terrorists.

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The New York Times describes the T.I.A's methods, stating that it

"develops data-mining and profiling technologies that could analyze commercial transactions and private communications."

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The in depth knowledge and information that the this program can collect about any and all American citizens is alarming to privacy advocates. 





Officially, the program was shut down in 2003 and but there has been rumors that its has been redesigned and it now operates under a code name.

As an advocate for the privacy of American citizens, I feel this is a violation of my privacy. However, because the program only monitors information and does not sell, share, and use my information, I can see the value in the program. If it protects U.S. citizens from violence and bloodshed, the T.I.A would definitely be a beneficial program.

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Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/15/magazine/the-year-in-ideas-total-information-awareness.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Information_Awareness

Confirmation Bias

The Basics of Confirmation Bias

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Who: doctors, politicians, jurors, anyone and everyone
What: the tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs (from Britannica)
Where: news, social media, politics, everywhere
When: since humans started sharing information to present day
Why: to protect their core personal beliefs, self-esteem, reputation as an intelligent person
How: ignoring or disregarding evidence against personal beliefs to focus on the supportive evidence

The Effects of Confirmation Bias

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DANGER!! This bias is dangerous because it leads people to ignore or disregard important evidence. This ignorance could cause major harm to people, the economy, the environment, or other things.

the cause and effect train:

confirmation bias   polarizes people with different opinions 

                              because each side refuses to see merit in the other's argument 

polarization  encourages a culture lacking empathy and encouraging fighting

unempathetic culture tension between groups increases 

                                          old vs. young,  rich vs. poor, male vs. female, gay vs. straight,       

                                          majority vs. minority

https://www.britannica.com/science/confirmation-bias

My Online Presence

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After speaking about privacy laws of online companies in class, I panicked about how much of my information was out there for anyone to see. However, I did a little research on myself and the minimal information that I found reassured me. 

results for searching my full name

When a googled different forms of my name (first and last, full name, nickname) I found different information but very little of it linked to me. My LinkedIn account was the first thing available but my Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter accounts never even appeared. Only two old pictures from a previous twitter account popped up when I searched my first and last name. The most invasive thing I found was my name on the HPU roster for the rowing team, which only listed my home state. 

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I am aware of the extensive amount of social media, shopping, and other accounts that I have online. To protect my privacy, I use nicknames or wrong information for most accounts. However, I could take these precautions one step further by clearing my cookies, throughly reading Terms of Use Agreements, and logging out of unused accounts. 

While I do not have a lot of personal information on the web, corporations such as Facebook and Google have likely collected some data on me that I would not like them to exploit. This has been a wakeup call for me to be more careful about what I post and share online. 

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