The Unseen Eye (Blog Post #7)

 

 Digitally Exposed

They are watching…they are learning…they are collecting. Everything you thought was safe and private is not as private as you once thought it was. Technology has truly advanced our society from being able to crunch thousands of differing data to connecting people from across the world. We have quite literally put our lives into our technology very much relying on them on a day-to-day basis. However, while the majority of the users have good intentions when utilizing technology, there are several websites/companies that may not have those same intentions.  Furthermore, we leave digital footprints on the internet from recent actions on the internet that we may not understand are there.

 The first video explains how everything we interact with on the internet is saved and traceable. He compares this to tattoos and how once we interact with the internet it is forever on our digital bodies. Every Facebook post, every personal/private message, every site visited is saved and can be seen by others. Digital Places like the Dark-Web uses this information to sell to other users and sites. Astonishingly, much of the revenue made from social media sites are from the selling of illegal information such as this. What you post and interact with on the internet is permanent and needs to be watched with a more careful eye otherwise, your digital footprint can be traced back to you and be used against you. Tracing can even be done outside of the internet. 

 

            In the second video it is brought up that the government can gain detailed portrait of how private citizens interact in there alone time. Through certain technologies the government can capture a single image of your car’s license plate to run against a list of other license plate to see if it is a criminal car. Even scarier, the government collects and stores these photos to gather a library of data. This surveillance gear takes advantage of our unawareness. While it is fantastic that the government is tracking down criminals, they take it a bit too far taking data from even innocent people. The technology should only be used for criminals. I understand that is it difficult to separate innocent from the guilty when it comes to surveilling areas. However, they take it too far by collecting a database of information for even the innocent. 

 

 

    The main issue with this is that if the government has access to this database, so does certain people looking to do harm. The third video focused on this exact topic. As technology has evolved. Many companies such as apple, have created a wall for this surveillance making it nearly impossible for hackers or the government to tap into the phone and see the texts and or data in your phone.  One would think that everyone would be happy about this because it stops people from spying in on others, however the government is against this wall to stop encryption. There reason is sensible because they want to be able to get a jump on certain threats to the country and to do that, they need to see the message and information on the phones. However, like the previous video they take it too far by collecting every innocent person’s data as well. Additionally, the data the government collects and when phones do not have these encryption walls other countries and people can hack into a person’s technology. No one should have to worry about every single text or call they make is being overwatched by a third party.  

 

I have very mixed feelings on the subject matter. Due to the fact both of my parents are in the military, I have seen the tip of the iceberg to the advanced technology our government has. It is honestly scary to think about the fact that every traffic light you have passed, every time you have sent a text or made a call, the government is watching you or at least trying too. I understand the perspective of the government wanting to stop a crime before it happens by tapping into the devices of the people, however it is when innocents are brought into the mess where I slowly begin to turn my head away from the idea. Furthermore, when the government collects a library of data for every single person in the government’s vicinity (All of the USA), I personally think that is a overstep of power and border line abuse of it, especially when those people are unaware of the government’s actions.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you think the unseen eye of the government should be shut for good or simply restrained? If so how?