Privacy 

These issues affect all of us as human beings. Having a big brother, so to speak, looking over our shoulder to spy on everything we are doing is not cool.  Why does the government need to know everything we are doing? The answer is that they do not.  The beauty of being an American citizen is that we are free to live our lives and do our thing within the confines of the laws that govern all US citizens. We have laws to maintain order and to protect us.  If we are following the laws, paying our taxes and not jaywalking, then the government should leave us alone and let us live our lives.  This affects me negatively because government surveillance takes away my quality of life.  How am I supposed to pursue my happiness when there is some creepy device watching and recording me? Even using social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram tabs are kept on us.  The Artificial Intelligence Facebook uses looks at what we view, how long we view it, what we search for on the app and who knows what else.  The next thing we know, there are all kinds of ads on our newsfeeds that have to do with dressy shoes for sale, all because we happened to click on a pair of glitter heels.   I do not want some computer to select and bombard me with advertisements about something I accidentally clicked on as I was leisurely scrolling online.  This affects my enjoyment of using the social media platform in a very annoyingly negative way.  It affects my sense of safety and wellbeing, because now I must be extra careful not to click on an athlete’s foot ad or I will see lots of athlete’s foot ads when I do not even have that condition! Not only does Facebook surveil us for advertiser’s products, but they also read everything we write in a post or how we respond to someone else’s post.  They remove our posts, put a disclaimer on our words and even put us in Facebook jail because their fact checkers or the word police disagree with a word, we use to describe a group of people or an event. Political comments are really scrutinized as well as anything that has to do with religion.  This sort of intrusion into someone's private opinion is just an overreach.  Then there are the apple air tags that can track you. While this can help you find a lost item, it can also be used in a nefarious way by someone with criminal intent.  With the rapid technological advances, we may be living in a world where James Bond spy devices are used to track us everywhere every minute of the day or night.  It is no longer Science fiction, but a cold intrusive reality.  This is not the America that we should be stuck with.  America is the land of the free and should be the land of the not surveilled! 

The Fourth Amendment states that the government protects American citizens from unjustified behavior from the government. This means that under this law our homes, people, schools, and cars are protected. However, the same rules should apply to technology and the internet. The government is not supposed to surveil people or listen to calls except in times of extreme unrest. The government legally does not have the right to wiretap someone’s cell phone or car. As an American, we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness which unauthorized surveillance is violated against our Constitution. While catching criminals, terrorists, and murderers are tracked the release of information means that the government can track us too. The government has the mass technology to track the American people however the government is stopped by the Amendments. 

 

How do we protect ourselves from all these invasions of privacy?  That is obviously the million-dollar question.  To answer it succinctly, we must be vigilant.  We must educate ourselves as to what type of surveillance devices are marketed, how they are used and how we can detect or disable them.  Knowing that there are other search engines on our computer that do not track our search history or purchasing history is important as well.  DuckDuckGo is a search engine that does not let creepy bots follow us around to collect our viewing information. While educating ourselves about the latest tech gadgets is very important, we still must be more vigilant and proactive.  We need to become activists in a way and make sure there are laws in place to govern and limit the extent we can be surveilled

.  We need to make our opinions known to the lawmakers and keep making our opinions known to them.  We can call or write our congressmen and women.  By sharing negative personal experiences with them, they can draft legislation to keep James Bond types and his nemeses at bay. We must vote into office the candidates who believe in protecting our constitution and personal right to freedom and privacy. Sadly, it takes a great deal of effort to protect ourselves in our world.  As with any technology, we must be careful how we use it.  Caution when using the internet is important.  Shopping online from only reputable companies can help protect our privacy.  Taking care when opening emails from unknown senders or attachments can potentially stop spyware from being attached to the computer. Who knows what all the implications with the new ways of using AI technology will bring.  No matter what comes our way, we must be vigilant to protect ourselves from overreaching intrusions into our private world.