with the recent change in google's privacy policy and the growing popularity of gps tracking devices, society's privacy is slowly vanishing. facebook's controversial and ever-changing privacy policies have always been under the scrutiny of the public eye, and now google's sudden change only adds to the concern of privacy. it is not fair for large internet forces to gain control of individuals' information, but there is no one to stop them, as the fourth amendment does not seem to have effect.
congress also seems to be concerned with the change in google's privacy policy, as they formally wrote a letter to google requesting an explanation as to why it makes sense for the search engine to change its policy. when the government is interested enough to personally ask for explanation, it shows the scale of change that is created from the shift in the policy. society as a whole is concerned about the sharing of their information across the internet, and with the direction it's moving, zero privacy could become a real possibility. even ignoring the fact that lack of policy violates the fourth amendment, it is not ethically correct to slowly take away people's privacy online. google and facebook are doing so at a pace that has become excepted by society, and it is using it to their advantage to gain valuable information about multiple facets of individuals' lives. facebook began with simple, to-the-point privacy features that allowed users to control the visibility of all of their information; and now, many aspects of users' privacy are open to developers right from the get-go. people have made noise to combat this issue, but in time the majority of people just come to accept it.
in a world where ideas are slowly moving towards equality for all people and everything should be out in the open for all to see, this online progression does nothing but aid in taking society away from where it should be - where people can say, do, and act as they please, and each individual has the right to their own privacy and opinion.
google's issues with their new privacy policy in detail:
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Google-Microsoft-Spar-Over-Privacy-Policy-Claims-394067/
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ReplyDeleteNathan I agree. It appears as though it is about time that the fourth amendment rights are applied to the internet was well. One of the beauties of the internet is its openness. However, there is a point where people's privacy needs to be respected. Governments and big businesses need to start remembering the little guy's privacy. Otherwise, people will eventually stand up and do something about it. It may not be the minute Google's privacy policy changes but it will happen as soon as the lack of privacy is taken advantage of. I do not just mean a disgruntled ex girlfriend tracking a former boyfriend, but rather prospective employers tracking a projective hires where abouts before they are offered a job. Right now this lack of privacy is still too new to truly know how it will effect human society. If it turns for the worst, one can only hope and fight for a world where the openness of private information is controlled.
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