COM 125 QotW6: Privacy

“The right to be let alone – the most comprehensive of rights and the most valued by civilized men.” – Louis D. Brandeis

Most people who use the Internet have little idea how vulnerable they are to abuse by online and offline marketers and how the information they provide can be used to exploit them. Citizens in a risk society can no longer rely on tradition or fixed hierarchies to establish their identity or to give them reliable guidance about whom to trust in a society of strangers (Giddens 1998).
From my exposure to the virtual world outside, I am able to be who I want to be not always who I am. When signing up for free email accounts & free trial software, I am always asked for personal information like date of birth, gender, age and home contact information. You also never know who is listening to your conversations online, what may seem as an innocent conversation between friends, turn into a national security issue, as the person spying on your conversation mistook you literally when you said that you were bombing the mall, but merely taking a huge shit in the toilet.
Being a rather secretive person, people do know get to know me online. I do not post personal emotions or any personal data on my social network websites or webblogs. Internet is allowing strangers to observe us even as we observe them (Rosen 2004). I believe that my online identity should be kept private to all unless I decide otherwise. But how many people out there actually respect your privacy? In schools, buses, shopping malls and even parks, cameras watch you’re every move. Some say it increases the security but how much till they go overboard? A recent survey in London shows that the streets of downtown London has one camera per square block.
Juggling Offline and Online privacy is really no easy task. With social blogs and social chat rooms springing up all over are we still able to protect ourselves from the watchful eyes of people. Online, the issue of privacy has become so prevalent that the use of anonymity and pseudonymity have become a need to ensure one's privacy in the online community.
When in the office your privacy might be invaded. Bosses often spies on their employees by using a remote program which allows then to capture whatever is on the employees screen. Even in school the lecturer is able to capture your screen shot and project it for the whole class to see, which I was caught for once.
In conclusion privacy is objective; it varies from place to place and from country to county. Different peoples tolerance to being surveyed and watched changes as more cameras are put into the streets. Who knows as the world evolves and changes we might start to find cameras in our own bathroom. Privacy is just to be left alone (Sullivan, 2006).


References

Rosen, J. (2004). The Naked Crowd: Reclaiming Security and Freedom in an Anxious Age, Random House.

Joseph T., Lauren F., and Kimberly M.(2005). Open to Exploitation: American Shoppers Online and Offline.

Conversations with Anthony Giddens: Making Sense of Modernity, Anthony Giddens and Christopher Pierson, Stanford University Press, 1998, p101

Sullivan, B. (17th October, 2006). "Privacy Lost: Does Anyone Care?". Retrieved on 8th March, 2007 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/