Their Eyes Were Watching Us
Tayler Sydney Hunter
If you knew that you were constantly watched, would you feel like your privacy was protected? Think about the devices you use daily, how secure are they? Let’s take this one step further. How would you feel if your personal information was used as currency for major firms? The webcams of our computers, the emails of our jobs, the geological tracking of our fitness watches, and the personal information collected through advertising; we as society are constantly monitored. This constant monitoring has been defined as Indiscriminate Monitoring. Indiscriminate monitoring is the mass monitoring of individuals of groups without the careful judgement of wrong-doing.
The advancement of technology has made great progress for our society. We now are able to stay more connected and more informed than ever before. However, the advancement of society has also made us more vulnerable than ever before. Today, we release our personal information willingly through mediums such as social media. When we are not releasing our information willingly, companies are taking matters into their own hands. In recent years, Tim Cook, the Ceo of Apple, stated that many firms in Silicon Valley that try to take advantage of your personal information and monetize it. He states that in the eyes of major companies, the personal information of users has become a good to be exchanged and sold in market transactions. In fact, this transaction of our personal information has become so popular that there are “data-brokers” that buy data about consumers and resell it for marketing purposes or other purposes. Thus, betraying the trust of consumers and indiscriminately destroying their privacy.
There have been little repercussions for these actions. Of course there have been various lawsuits such as Google being sued for five billion dollars for tracking users through private browsers. Or Apple facing a lawsuit over an iPhone tracking ID that allows firms to generate target advertisements. While these actions have generated some outrange by the public, there has been little done in regards to the government. In 2007, the Bush administration condemned the NSA for conducting surveillance on citizens without warrants. Also, the FISA has passed various amendments to promote national security and privacy. More recently Proposition 24, the Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act Initiative, was passed. This proposition stated consumers can prevent companies from sharing their information through data collection. This proposition has been great progress in regards to protecting consumers from the indiscriminate transactions of personal data.
While the recent work of the government against indiscriminate monitoring has made a positive impact, indiscriminate monitoring can still produce negative consequences for individuals. With the idea of monitoring and privacy infringement being more popularized, there have been several considerations for individuals to deal with. When individuals realize that their privacy is compromised they can develop a mistrust, frustration, and a negative attitude towards the current system or large firms. In a workplace, if employees know their calls or emails are monitored then job dissatisfaction could emerge. With technology, if users realized that a retailer was releasing personal information such as demographic information, then they might decline to use that service. All of these aspects could potentially put individuals at war with members who seek to infringe on their privacy.
Indiscriminate monitoring is constantly around us. It impacts our government, our devices, our retailers, and even our emotions. So, the next time you use any of the aforementioned devices or services ask yourself: are they watching you?
Work Cited
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