Through recent advancements in technology, the idea of cyber-security is one that many people often argue and have questions about. Any time a website is signed up for, there are a bunch of privacy statements and things that are often looked over because people worry about whether they are giving away private things about them or not. Though it is often portrayed on the news as something that everyone is currently worrying about, the current “threat” of peoples’ privacy may not be as worried about as we all think. According to a recent Viber study shown by a Medium corporation, “75% of internet users aren’t bothered about the data they share with companies”. People are more concerned about what they get in return for giving out these personal things. Many people even believe that “data exchange in this way is absolutely essential for society to keep ticking along smoothly”. While privacy is definitely a very important thing for most people, people must be willing to give up some aspects of privacy because companies use searches to tailor their advertising personally to you, the government has to use personal information to track potential issues in national defense, and if people want to have the convenience of using technology they have to be willing to give up a certain level of privacy.
While people are often most skeptical of companies using their privacy and data for the wrong reasons, this usually is not the case according to Business News Daily. Businesses use different ways to collect your data such as “directly asking customers, by indirectly tracking customers, and by appending other sources of customer data to your own”. (Uzialko) Once this data is collected, they use it for many different things to help the consumer experience. First, they use this data to gain a better understanding of what they need to do to meet their consumer's demands. By using analytics, they can do this on a very personal level because “each customer is going to have their own individual preferences”. Next, companies can use this information to help their own marketing strategies as well. When using data to determine engagement with ads and marketing campaigns, companies can adjust their advertisements accordingly to reach out to as many people as they possibly can. Lastly, some larger banking institutions can use more technologically advanced data to help protect people’s security even more. “For example, banking institutions will sometimes use voice recognition data to authorize a user to access their financial information or protect them from fraudulent attempts to steal their information”. Therefore, while companies are often given a bad name because of the amounts of data they collect from consumers, these tactics are meant to help and even protect consumers from misuse of their data.
The Federal government plays a big role in using privacy to protect the United States from possible terrorism and cyber-attacks. While it is not known exactly how the government itself uses privacy to protect the United States, “The US government has the obligation not only to make public data available for citizen access but also to protect the privacy of individual citizen’s records as stated in the Privacy Act”. (Warner) When people argue about privacy concerns, the government will always be part of the concern about that topic. It is no surprise that the government does use private information about people to determine whether a person’s actions could be classified as suspicious or not, but it is only in the interest of keeping United States citizens safe. In light of recent terrorist attacks by ISIS, “a balance must be struck between reducing opportunities for terrorists to exploit encryption and protecting the communication and privacy of ordinary citizens.” (Malik) It is because of things like this that the United States government must use certain aspects of people’s information to determine whether a threat could be taking place.
With technology being something that almost all Americans use today, it is nearly impossible to avoid being mixed up in the battle of privacy versus convenience. With “the amount of global active web users now near 3.2 billion people”, everyone uses technology to better their life, yet gets scared of the potential risk of having their privacy rights violated. (Davidson) Technology nowadays is used for nearly everything because of the convenience that it provides in completing tasks that would have taken much longer before. It is used in most schools, businesses, and government-ran offices to provide efficient task-managing and data collection. Because of this, people must adjust to the fact that their information is going to be used to do different things, while still understanding that most privacy policies are used to protect their information from getting into the wrong hands. With any use of technology, there will always be risks in private information getting out there, but the risk most often is outweighed by the convenience that comes with it.
Along with the influence of computers and the number of people that use them today, the amount of people that use smartphones just in the United States has increased drastically as well. It is shown that “In 2017, 67.3 percent of the U.S. population used a smartphone [and] by 2021, it is estimated that the U.S. will have a 72.7 percent smartphone penetration rate” (IIA). While many people may not think of smartphones as too much of a big deal when it comes to their way of life, “They are individual, digital extensions of ourselves” (Davey). People nowadays use smartphones for nearly everything that they do daily such as using them as calendars, social media, alarm clocks, business investments, and almost everything in between. While people may not realize it, most phones become a part of who a person is because of the amount of information that they hold and the way that these phones can learn the behavior and routines of the person who owns them. With life being so fast-paced nowadays, the evolution of technology has given people the ability to accomplish tasks at a much faster and more accurate rate by having the convenience of having all of the answers to almost everything in their pockets.
In Daniel J. Solove’s article Why Privacy Matters Even If You Have Nothing to hide, he addresses some concerns about why people should be worried about their private information even when they feel they have nothing to worry about. One of his biggest arguments is when he states, “the government might start analyzing people’s bank records, start combing through credit-card records, then expand to Internet-service providers’ records, health records, employment records and more”. While some may see this as frightening information, it must also be considered the crimes that they may prevent in doing so. Unless someone truly has ill intentions with their actions through the use of technology, they are not going to be scrutinized by the government. Therefore, even if people fear the government’s intervention in their privacy, the amount of crime that this intervention stops is much greater than the small amount of concern for what data is collected. There have been many different instances of times where companies have not complied with the government to help them stop possible terrorist attacks. Just recently there was a case where the FBI requested access to the San Bernardino, California shooter’s iPhone and was denied this information. Because of situations like this, there needs to be more legislation requiring companies to work with investigations to help aid law enforcement with problems that could lead to public safety issues. Especially “At a time when the threat of terror is arguably at its highest point, technology is increasingly being used by criminals and terrorist networks to communicate and coordinate” (Eidam). While there is no slowing down the evolution of technology, there are definitely more ways that the companies who create this technology can use this as a means of bringing to justice the people who are using their products to assist in committing crimes.
Another major argument that many people would have against lighter encryption for electronic devices is that if a “backdoor” is made for the United States, then access to these devices would be easier for other people to access as well. While this is a reasonable argument to make, it should not be left to the discretion of the companies to decide when and how this information is used. While some people may think of it as a scary thought that the government can have access to your information whenever they need it, this would give more power to them to stop crimes and terrorist attacks before they start. When you give these corporations full power of deciding when and if they will give out information on people, it could leave certain levels of security in the hands of people who have no idea what this could cost the citizens of the United States. The truth is, technology is transforming the way that crime and crime-busting are committed. The evolution of technology makes it easier for criminal organizations to arrange attacks and other things, while technology is also making it much easier to identify the people who are committing the crimes and put a stop to them much easier.
While there are always going to be arguments on the issue of privacy versus security, there are many steps that companies can take to limit the worries of people who have these concerns. One thing that companies can do to limit the threat of data breaches is by conducting constant monitoring of the security within their systems. With the technological advancements that are taking place, there no longer needs to be as big of a security team taking breaks while monitoring how people use their information. Machines can be used now to monitor small discrepancies in the information being used and find outliers that could show different threats within their systems. Also, if companies provide more clear policies and processes about how they protect consumer information and run them through extensive testing to make sure they work, people will be less worried about how their information is used and collected. The last thing that companies can use to ease the mind of people who may be worried about their privacy is by using a plan that shows exactly what they will do in the event that a privacy leak does happen. When it is clearly shown what will happen if an incident does occur, measures can be taken to eliminate the problem quickly and efficiently.
One thing that the government could do to make people feel safer about their privacy is for the judicial system to implement a clear policy that would show the liability of any company that loses personal data about the people that are involved with that company. Today, it is known that many of the companies that are dealt with regularly hold many aspects of personal data about us. Names, addresses, credit card information, social security numbers, and personal relations are just a small amount of personal data that is known about us by companies. When these companies leave security procedures open to be breached, they are putting every one of their customer’s privacy at risk. It is fairly common that when the security of a company is breached, they send out a letter to their clients informing them of the breach and informing them that their information could be at risk. If these companies proved to be negligent in the way that they stored this personal data, then a court proceeding that proved them liable could be a good deterrent for companies to be more careful about how they secure people’s data.
When national security is a factor involved in citizens’ privacy, the government should make it very clear that their citizens are the ones that they are trying to protect. Often times people prefer their privacy over the ability of the government to use the information for national security purposes. This is because the government does these things without informing its citizens of the reasons that they are using private information. People start to believe that the government is just meddling in peoples’ lives for no apparent reason, and thus, they would rather the government not be able to intervene in privacy at all. If the government could show that what they are doing has a purpose that is meant to protect the rights of their citizens, people may feel more comfortable in them having the power that they do to conduct these investigations that could limit someone’s privacy. Furthermore, the government should not be able to just collect the data of every single person; rather the government should openly be able to collect data on people who are suspected of a crime or known to be with a terrorist regime. If these standards were met and the government showed clearly that they were doing these things to protect the rights of their citizens, people would be more cooperative in allowing the government to obtain personal information about people.
Since privacy is such an important thing in the modern era of technology, it is important to understand that sometimes the use of someone’s privacy is not always a bad thing. From a company’s use of privacy to tailor a good consumer experience, to the Federal government using it to expose and possibly capture criminals and terrorists, it is important to understand that there are some small aspects of privacy that must sometimes be given up in order to have a greater benefit by the outcome of it. By doing this, people’s privacy would be better-taken care of and the people who are committing crimes would have more of a chance of being caught. Also, when companies use better means of communication with consumers, they will feel less threatened and less concerned about giving out some private details because they know how this information is being used. These same companies should be held to higher standards of liability when it comes to breaches in information and should have consequences that reflected their negligence in people’s information being obtained. If these standards were met by both the government and larger corporations, people would feel more comfortable about their privacy and be more informed about the things that they could do to protect it as well.
Works Cited
Davey, Lizzie. “How Concerned Are Consumers Really When It Comes to Data Privacy?” Medium, Medium, 28 Aug. 2018, medium.com/@AxelUnlimited/how-concerned-are-consumers-really-when-it-comes-to-data-privacy-21c4587ddc5c.
Davidson, Jacob. “Here's How Many Internet Users There Are.” Money, 26 May 2015, money.com/money/3896219/internet-users-worldwide/.
Eidam, Eyragon. “Privacy vs. Security: Experts Debate Merits of Each in Tech-Rich World.” Government Technology State & Local Articles - E.Republic, 2017, www.govtech.com/policy/Privacy-vs-Security-Experts-Debate-Merits-of-Each-in-Tech-Rich-World.html.
Iia. “Research Peek of the Week: Smartphone Users in the US Expected to Reach Over 270 Million by 2022.” Internet Innovation Alliance, State of the U.S. Consumer Technology Industry, 6 Sept. 2018, internetinnovation.org/general/research-peek-of-the-week-smartphone-users-in-the-us-expected-to-reach-over-270-million-by-2020/.
Malik, Nikita. “The Tradeoff Between Security And Privacy: How Do Terrorists Use Encryption?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 7 Nov. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/nikitamalik/2018/11/07/the-tradeoff-between-security-and-privacy-how-do-terrorists-use-encryption/#428b19ec62d8.
Solove, Daniel J. “Why Privacy Matters Even If You Have ‘Nothing to Hide.’” The Concise St. Martin's Guide to Writing, by Rise B. Axelrod and Charles Raymond Cooper, Bedford/St. Martins, 2018, pp. 202–206.
Uzialko, Adam C. “How and Why Businesses Collect Consumer Data.” Business News Daily, 3 Aug. 2018, www.businessnewsdaily.com/10625-businesses-collecting-data.html.
Warner, Janice. “Privacy Protection in Government Mashups.” EBSCO, 2009.