The Illusion of Privacy

Sometimes it seems like we are never really alone, even when we are just sitting in our room. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve told a friend about something unusual, like a new pair of shoes or a weird snack, and then I open up Instagram or Google, and there’s advertising for just that. It's a little spooky. Is privacy even a thing anymore? It makes me think whether it's because of monitoring, search history, or just apps listening in.

We are never by ourselves.

Surveillance is no longer the stuff of sci-fi movies. I watched a TED Talk by Catherine Crump, who discusses how technology intended for national security is now being used by local police across the country. She talks about Automatic License Plate Readers that follow your car even if you haven’t done anything illegal. 

There are stingray devices and mobile tower dumps that can also pull information from your phone. Essentially, the government can discover where you are, who you are with, and what you are doing each day. Sure, this stuff can help arrest criminals, but it also makes me worried about what this means for our privacy.

Watching that TED talk really frightened me a bit. I never really thought about how much information might be collected about me without my knowing. It reminds me of family and friends and how strange it is that our location and personal info can be stored elsewhere, even if we’ve done nothing wrong. I believe everyone has the right to some privacy, and it is wrong for ordinary people to feel as if they are being watched all the time.

I think the government needs to do more to tighten the laws on how long a company may have surveillance data and also make sure the police destroy information about innocent people. We should also know what data is being collected and why. We can protect ourselves by checking our privacy settings and not sharing too much online. There has to be a way to keep people safe without everyone being watched all the time.