In recent years, there have been revelations that governments and corporations have conducted mass surveillance programs of their citizens and their customers, and in worst cases sharing vital information about them with other companies. Such actions lead to the questioning of the place of privacy in this information age. Privacy is a basic human right which is protected under different multinational privacy guidelines, frameworks and directives in different countries. It allows individuals or groups of people to seclude themselves or information about themselves (Dorraji 310). In this digital era where a lot of information is shared on the internet through the social networking sites and features activated on smartphones, privacy has become an important issue as a lot of information is leaked leading to the death of the victims and psychological problems.
With the rapid technological advancements in recent years, information privacy has been rendered obsolete. Satellite monitoring, automated surveillance gadgets, and personal smartphones can be used in tracking the movements and the activities that individuals engage in. Today, the situation is worse as surveillance is not only done by governments and corporate entities, but also by individuals who want to destroy the reputation of others.
Personally, the breach of privacy has cost me some of my loyal friends and fans and destroyed my reputation. My Facebook account was hacked three months ago and the hackers sent pornographic materials and nudes to my friends and followers. I reported the issue and hanged my password but it was already late. My image changed before my friends and relatives.
The aim of this essay is to assess whether privacy still exists in this digital era. The essay discusses the views of different authors concerning the issue of privacy in the current era and eventually provides the readers with the position of the author.
Discussion
Different authors have debated widely on the issue of privacy in the digital era with the aim of helping readers to have an in-depth understanding of the current situation. Eggers uses the story of a young lady called Mae, who finds a job in a digital company courtesy of her friend Annie. At first, she is excited about her new job and is happy to leave her former company which she thinks made her waste a lot of time. In her new company, she receives orientation and is provided with a new tablet and a phone with her names (Eggers 2). After that, she was taken through what she was taken through her duty and allowed to begin working.
Although the first month was smooth in terms of customer representation and she scored highly in her job as she was rated well by the customers. However, this did not last long before the company began to invade her private life. Through her tablet, the human resource department and the head of her department began tracking her movements throughout the day, questioning why she did not attend the community meetings and why she did not chat with her inner and outer circles. They expected her to share private issues such as her dad's sickness with the others by posting. In an attempt to know whether she shared her dad's sickness with others, Josiah asks, "Did you reach out to any Circlers during this crisis?" (Eggers7). The situation became worse as they wanted to know all the things that she does even during weekends. In the fits Circle meeting which she attends, Eamon Bailey introduces a new surveillance gadget. After educating the crowd about it, he concludes that "All that happens will be known" (Eggers 12).
In her discussion involving privacy in the digital era, Solnit (5) uses the Apple Company to show how the use of digital devices breaches the privacy of individuals. While these devices connect individuals in different places through various applications, they make their users vulnerable to data and information breach. Solnit (6) uses the case of Tyler Clementi, a young violinist and Rutgers student who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate his tryst with another man. The writer also mentions other cases of privacy breach such as the hacking and leaking of private photos of celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence. According to the author, although Silicon Valley has contributed immensely to the technologies we have today, many of them are not done in good faith. The writer laments that we live in a world where surveillance is the order of the day and telling the truth is a crime (Solnit 7).
In his article involving the subject of privacy, Greenwald uses common sentiments to provide a detailed discussion of why privacy matters. According to the writer, while people argue that those who engage in bad acts have reasons to be concerned about their privacy, it is evident that everyone requires privacy (2). He states that those who say that privacy does not matter live a lie as their actions differ, yet they are neither criminals nor terrorists. To show the importance of privacy, Greenwald gives the case of Mark Zuckerberg who bought their house and three adjacent ones in Palo Alto for privacy purposes. He also gives the case of Edward Schmidt, the Google CEO who ordered his employees to stop speaking with CNET after an article on his private information was published. Overall, the writer argues that the system of mass surveillance suppresses the freedom of individuals in all ways and affects behavioral choices. He says, "We can make the chains of mass surveillance appear undetectable and invisible but the effects it has on us do not become less potent" (Greenwald 4).
My Take
Personally, I think that privacy is an important element which has died due to the emergence of the digital age. I totally agree with the writers as they focus on different cases that show how important privacy is in this current era. The emergence of different tools and applications have not only made communication easier but also brought a range of negative effects. Today, the internet, which was once a tool of liberalization and democratization has been used by governments and organizations alike to spy on their people such as in the case of Mae. Such kind of monitoring is awful since denies individuals their personal space.
I also think that the manufacturers of the smartphones and the builders of the applications we use today should consider privacy as an important feature in their tools and applications. The lack of privacy causes other people to have power over us, it causes others to disrespect us as they have some privy information about us and destroys trust. It is, therefore, important for service providers to ensure the privacy of their customers in this digital era.
Works Cited
Dorraji, Seyed, Ibrahim. Privacy in the Digital Age: Dead or Alive? Regarding the new EU Data Protection Regulations. Social Technologies, 2014, 4 (2), pp. 306-317.
Eggers, Dave. We Love You So Much and Want To Know You Better. The New York Times Magazine. 2013.
Greenwald, Glen. Why Privacy Matters. Ted Global. 2014.
Solnit Rebecca. Poison Apples. Easy Chair: Harper’s Magazine. 2014.
