While the country focuses on the presidential race and the Supreme Court nomination, there are other concerns that roil American citizens but have faded to the background. With growth of the Internet and social media, maintenance of privacy has become an explosive issue for some frequent users. Interestingly, Apple has been asked to hack the Iphone of one of the San Bernadino terrorists for the F.B.I, but has been resistant thus far.
Lack of privacy is expected in totalitarian states where autocrats want all information to be accessible to them at all times. Those in power attempt to monitor private communications to prevent rebellion from brewing, fearing that the “people” or opposition groups might be secretly conspiring against them. Invasion of citizens’ privacy by government surveillance and various high tech corporations in democratic nations has only become a consideration in the last few years. In fact, it was really brought to public attention with the release of classified information from the NSA (National Security Agency) by Edward Snowden when he defected to Hong Kong and then Russia in June of 2013.
Though there had been inklings of monitoring prior to Snowden’s revelation, at that time it became known that the American government had been collecting vast reams of people’s data. This had been done via surveillance of phone calls and the Internet from Americans and citizens of other countries to trace possible terrorist activities. Actually, the overwhelming majority of the population never had their information scrutinized, unless an algorithm suggested terrorist ties, or travel or phone calls to places where terrorists were located. Never-the-less, there was an uproar in foreign democracies as well as the U.S. over the loss of privacy, as it was believed the American government might be able to use some of the data in nefarious ways.
Particularly embarrassing was the revelation that the United States and British intelligence agencies had been listening in on the phone calls of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, an American ally. Blowback also occurred when members of Congress learned that the CIA and NSA had been spying on the Senate Intelligence Committee. The ability of these agencies to monitor virtually anyone in the world who uses electronic equipment (phones, cell phones, computers) means that they can track citizens and non-citizens and intercept their communications, if some intelligence analyst feels they might pose a risk to America. However, non-terroristic criminal activities could also be uncovered in the screening that is done, without warrants for surveillance of these individuals. Extra-marital liaisons and other private matters could possibly be exposed as well while monitoring was occurring.
In addition to the government, many high-tech firms have been collecting personal data on people who use their services, including Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple, and so forth. The objective of these companies is generally to target advertising by their clients or themselves to the likes and dislikes of their customers, making sales of various products more likely with these personal profiles. However, the data to enhance marketing is usually collected without gaining the approval of the individuals being monitored, or by getting the okay through Internet documents that are not well understood by the recipients. Many individuals feel this is an invasion of their privacy. They do not want to be inundated with advertisements on line or through the mail that they did not request and there are costs and time wasted associated with this. Facebook under pressure has promised to cut down on its data mining research and to insure that those who post have more privacy, but has not been specific about what it intends to change. However, individuals should remain aware that the Internet is an open book, and anything they post about themselves or others, privately or not, will be available to searching eyes for a long time.
New encryption techniques are currently being utilized by some of the high tech firms to guarantee users that their communications will not be seen by the government to extract information. But intelligence agencies are now complaining that this makes it harder for them to track terrorists and keep the country safe. However, it is probably a matter of time before the spy agencies find ways to crack the encryption codes and obtain the data they need. To insure privacy for citizens in the future, any collection of information about individuals by American intelligence agencies should be approved by the judicial system, possibly a special court like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court which was established by Congress in 1978. High tech companies should also simplify notifications to their users that their data is being collected, so they realize what is being done, allowing them to opt out more easily if they so desire.
The European Union has been particularly strict regarding privacy issues and transfer of information by American companies to agencies in the U.S. as well as the utilization of data for business purposes. However, early in 2016, the European Commission and the United States came to an agreement on managing data which should be helpful for both sides. This EU-U.S. Privacy Shield established a new data transmission framework spanning the Atlantic. However, independent of this, the E.U. had previously instituted a policy regarding personal data that people would like “forgotten,” and taken out of the public domain. Internet companies have started working on this concern, removing information that individuals want eliminated if their complaints seem reasonable.
In this new connected Internet world, however, individual privacy will be difficult to maintain unless people make a concerted effort to keep the details of their lives out of government and corporate hands, instead of posting everything about themselves on various accessible websites. Often, these posts may be accompanied by problematic photos or loads of private information. Given the presence of terrorist or criminal activity that are a constant menace around the globe, security should trump privacy when there is a conflict between them. If you want something kept private, do not put it on the Internet in the first place.
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
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Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020