While we have discussed internet
privacy several times in class, there are some aspects that have previously
been untouched. After watching several TED talks I learned that there are other
ways outside of social media that our privacy is invaded.
One of the speakers, Catherine
Crump, addressed something we encounter daily but often do not consider: the
police are gathering information about us in ways that were previously
considered impossible. Via location tracking, the government can obtain a
detailed picture of how citizens act privately- several pictures actually. In
addition, automatic license plate readers allow the police to capture images of
every car and convert their license plates to readable text in order to catch
people for wrongdoing, but also to observe everyone that passes by. Crump then
explains that the government has hundreds of photos of people's daily life and
that the police just hang on to all of these just in case it is needed some
day.
The next speaker, Finn Myrstad,
brought up the seemingly innocent children's toy known as Cayla. This was a
doll that anyone who had a cell phone could connect to within a certain
distance. This entire concept was clearly an invasion of people's right to
privacy and was soon banned in Germany, taken off the store shelves, and put in
the German spy museum in Berlin. Simple instances of privacy invasion from
location tracking to children's toys show that despite there being rules to
protect us, there are loopholes that give unknown users too much of our
information without our consent.
Sources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni4FV5zL6lM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E_1AB1rsSw
