Online Privacy

Having viewed the TED Talks on online privacy and discussing the risk it poses to liberties, I did not find myself learning many new details.  This is a subject I have learned about extensively, and have blogged about previously.  And even though I feel largely unfazed from the videos, I am still concerned about some of the implications that these details pose.

As most people know, websites and even the government track our data and store our information based on search history.  These sites and agencies keep our data, even as most of us commit non-criminal acts, which I believe is a violation of the fourth amendment.  Our browsers should not be monitored without a warrant, and any information that is collected can potentially be used against us if we were to ever commit a crime, which is arguably another infringement of this right.  And the idea of "if you're innocent you have nothing to worry about" doesn't apply because all of our data is stored, and we're all secretive of what we search for even when we don't have to fear the law.

But in recent years, the military and police establishing high-grade surveillance systems to monitor and track us.  A lot of people feel that our leaders in these institutions are untrustworthy, and given that they track everyone, these concerns are warranted.  These measures have put us very easily on the edge from being a dystopian and/or authoritarian state, and if an event like a terrorist attack were to be heavily exploited, the freedoms of every American would be gone.

Thankfully, non-political figures have taken the steps to ensure privacy on the internet.  Companies like Apple have implemented encryption features to keep peoples messages and emails protected from outside threats, which keeps us a lot safer from having our conversations being spied on.  While it's not impossible, government agencies have a much more difficult time spying on citizens.  This is on top of the already expansive surveillance systems in place, and in order to properly ensure the protection of everyone's personal information, politicians who support such systems should be put in place to implement these laws.  That way, Americans don't have to worry about being tracked, and non-compliant businesses and agents can be held accountable.  At the same time, devices like police stingrays have proven to be effective and shouldn't be eliminated, but should still be utilized under a warrant.  With the state of the internet bringing us to such a dangerous place, actions like these should be taken in order to not only protect everyone's internet life, but regain their trust in the people who represent them.