Technology Or Privacy Essay Research Paper George

Technology Or Privacy? Essay, Research Paper George Orwell said it best in his novel 1984; Big Brother Is Watching you . He wrote these words in 1949. Who would have thought that fifty years from then it is becoming reality instead of fiction? It now seems as if technology makes the planet revolve. I will discuss certain aspects of the issue over privacy rights in conjunction with technology. In this paper I will prove that the government, businesses, and individuals have access to almost anyone s information. I will also prove that this will neither end, nor slow down. I will also offer theories about government cover-ups. Anything you store on your computer can be used against you. (Wang, p.69) The government has access to every bit of information you put on a form.

Anything from medical records to credit reports. Even your most sensitive information is available to the government. Virtually every major change in life is recorded somewhere in a government files. Shortly after you are born, a birth certificate is issued. When you obtain a driver’s license, get married, buy a house, or file a lawsuit, these events are recorded in public documents easily available to you and to others. (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, http://www.privacyrights.org/FS/fs11-pub.htm) Businesses also have access to sensitive information such as credit reports and credit card numbers. In fact, anyone with a justifiable business need for it has access to it. Spamming is also a loss of privacy. Spamming is junk mail on your computer. Often its advertisements for money

making schemes, business opportunities, or even pornography. Some people sell e-mail addresses to businesses to make money. Also, when you put your e-mail address on forms, you run the risk of it being sold to businesses for the purpose of spamming. The cost of spamming is low, therefore, even if one percent of the people spammed actually read and do what the spam asks them to do, it will cover the minimal costs of spamming. Telemarketers also interfere with peoples privacy. Technology such as national phone number databases and automated dialing machines allow telemarketers to reach nearly anyone with a phone line. With the right tools, any ordinary person can gain access to your personal information. Computer hacking is one way; computer viruses known as Trojans can give allow

sensitive information to be revealed to a curious hacker. (Wang, 301) I was the victim of a Trojan this past summer. The person who put the Trojan on my computer had access to everything on my hard drive including my passwords. These are not easily detected unless you are careful and know what to look for. One might think that they have complete privacy, but little do they know a person two blocks away or two hundred thousand miles away could have access to their information. Interactions between people that are mediated by technology are prone to both conscious and inadvertent intrusions on privacy (Bellotti, 66) Technology is growing at an unbelievable rate. Within a period of about fifteen years, the Internet has gone from a medium used strictly by universities, scientists,

and the military to a global medium used for everything from education to entertainment by a majority of the US population. According to research by MIT, the size of the Internet tripled from 1993 to 1996. (Internet Growth – Summary, http://www.mit.edu/people/mkgray/net/internet-growth-summary.html) By the year 2000, it is projected that nearly half of the population of the world that speaks English will have Internet access. (Global Internet Statistics, http://www.euromktg.com/globstats/) Will this growing ever stop? I can t predict the future, but I would be willing to bet that it won t. It is now common wisdom that the power, capacity and speed of information technology is accelerating rapidly. The extent of privacy invasion – or certainly the potential to invade privacy