Online Privacy

I found it very interesting during one of the TED Talks when the speaker said how the War on Terror in the early 2000's was just an excuse for the government to invade our privacy. It was a shocking and somewhat true statement that begins the debate of national security versus personal security. The ability to monitor what someone does on the internet is very helpful for the government, unfortunately, it is an extreme invasion of privacy. Whether someone follows the law or is secretly planning a terrorist attack should be known only to that person, not any government workers. 

The invention of the Internet certainly has made many people interpret the first amendment differently, because when the founding fathers wrote the Bill of Rights, they could not take a photo it and post it online for millions of people to see. The third clause of first amendment gives us a right to freedom of speech. This means that it not only protects our individual rights to speak our minds in person, but also to do so online. So why does the government try to monitor what we say and do online, when they can't in person? The reason is national security, but it's not all national security when the government monitors what we do or say on the internet.

Granting unchecked surveillance powers to the government could also create a potential abuse of those powers. Government officials could use surveillance data to target political opponents, suppress dissent, or engage in discriminatory practices. Which although it would be helpful for political affairs, it would not be very protective of Americans' rights. A little monitoring would be alright, but only if we knew we could trust the government, which is often shady at best. Government surveillance programs are often secretive and have little oversight. This lack of accountability means that individuals have little recourse if their rights are violated or if surveillance is conducted improperly. 

Another downside of the government monitoring what we say online is the effect of the spiral of silence theory. This is one of the most popular communication theories and it states that people remain silent when they feel that their views are in opposition to the majority view on a subject. This causes people to possibly hesitate to explore controversial topics or express minority opinions if they fear government surveillance.  People may also be less inclined to experiment with new ideas or technologies if they fear their activities will be monitored and possibly scrutinized by the government.

Thankfully, according to the TED talks listed below, encryption is making privation information private again. Because there's no way to control how much surveillance the government has over us, many apps and other Internet browsers are building networks with encryption to make sure they are as secure as possible. Tech companies have built these encryption pieces as a default into their devices. Apps like iMessage and WhatsApp are developed now so the government cannot wiretap text messages. Of course, our government officials are very mad about this, but I believe that that's okay. I don't want to live in a world where our calls or texts could be surveilled by criminals, stalkers, or foreign governments. 

Thankfully, nothing me or my family does is illegal enough to cause government involvement in our life. Unfortunately, I see on the news all too often innocent people being killed by SWAT because their identities were mixed up with someone else. Right now, I am glad that more light is being shed onto government surveillance and I hope in the future that more apps and other internet browsers add encryption to support our individual rights. 

For information about this topic, I watched the TED talk above, this TED talk, and this website.