Privacy, Online and Off

How safe are we from government influence outside of social media? I mean nothing can happen to us once we put our phones down, right? "Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it's not there" states Catherine Crump.

We now live in an era where the reality of Fahrenheit 451 is more present than we know. The government has a deeper influence upon us than just the computer, the government has equipped our own local law enforcement agencies with location and monitoring technologies which create data files and records about all of our whereabouts and habits, which allows authorities to objectify us as programs and not human beings. Our data is not private anymore. Police are equipped with effective license plate readers which actively read and record every vehicle which passes by. When a man cane up to his local police agency and requested to see his plate records, even though he is a man who has no criminal record, the department obliged and shared where he has been tracked. They revealed photos every time he passed by and even who he were with in the vehicle; even a photo revealing himself and his daughters exiting the car in the "safety" of their own home driveway.

This technology is allowing the government to keep tabs on everyone, even if they are not a threat. There was a record that showed that police were driving past mosques and recording data on those who were attending and taking detail on these individuals.

Is this the protection we believe in? While there is the possibility for our government to truly catch those who are guilty and should be convicted of crimes, should we be willing to place our own lives and personal prints out in the eye of the government in the sake of security? Where is our right to privacy which our fourth amendment right alludes to ensure our own personal protection and to be viewed as an individual, not as a police file in a government database.

Information Found On Myself

While attempting to search information about myself as if I were an employer searching information upon a potential employee, I honestly did not learn as much as I was expecting to find about myself (which is a good thing). My name is David G. Kleinschuster, and my father is David W. Kleinschuster, so whenever I attempt to search my name on the internet, mostly my father's information comes up. He himself does not use social media in a broad expanse, he just got a FaceBook this summer, so the only information which truly appears when I search my (our) name is "Albemarle Psychological Innovations," his own psychological firm. I even went to smartbackgroundchecks.com and did not find any information upon myself, only my family members.

Again, not being able to find yourself on the internet is not a bad thing. I may have found one or two photos of myself in google search but majority of what I found were people I knew. Truly the only social media applications I actively use are Instagram and VSCO. Both are apps meant for posting photos, yet Instagram is meant for a more follower basis VSCO rather focuses on creativity of a photo and unique editing styles. I prefer to use VSCO because the app is not designed to focus upon the status of having followers, but rather just expressing yourself through images you take.

Either way, the images I post are of places I have been, family and friends, or of myself; I leave a positive footprint of myself within any application that I use, for I never know what future employers may want to learn about myself.

Furthermore, the image you set for yourself online is not only to make a footprint for potential business, but the information you input onto the web allows the government and these private businesses to sell your personal information to potential buyers; this makes you vulnerable to spyware \by agreeing to contracts that these corporations such as Google to access your personal information. So play it safe, and take care of your digital footprint.