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.