Privacy

 Privacy 

   

 The issue of privacy and online surveillance is a fairly new issue in the modern context of the world we live in. The internet provided a way for big tech companies and different governments to work together to spy on their own people all under the guise of "public safety". Something that did not previously exist until a couple decades ago was the issue of the digital footprint or digital tattoo. A digital footprint is essential a tattoo or a record of however an individual has interacted on the internet, in the past or present. Anything that was said, posted, or searched by you online is a part of your digital tattoo and that will never go away. This is an issue that affects nearly all of us in America as we know that 93% of all Americans adults in 2021 use the internet. 

    

    If we had a competent government that actually had the best interests of the American people at heart, they would sign and enforce laws restricting this surveillance. But instead they are doing the exact opposite by working with these companies to steal our data to have more knowledge and control about their own people. Legislation such as the Patriot Act that was signed in 2001 by the Bush administration that used the tragedy of 9/11 as an excuse by exploiting the fear of the American people to justify spying on innocent people all under the guise of "counterterrorism". What our government actually should be doing is to make surveillance of those without a warrant straight up illegal and force these tech companies to delete data on anyone that has no record in the eyes of the court. 

    One of the best things we can do to help stop, or at the very least reduce, this surveillance is to force the government, even local governments to start taking measures against this. We already know that many local police departments keep records of people indefinitely if people are able to influence local governments to stop their collection of our information the tide can be turned to eventually lobbying the state and potentially federal governments to put a stop to this. Before any legislation is passed though, we can still take measures to protect ourselves. First off we can just be more cautious about whatever we say, post, or even search online and realize that somewhere, somebody working for a company is collecting that information. We can also invest in a VPN (virtual privacy network) which helps to protect our data which leads to a lower risk of identity theft. 

    This issue of surveillance by big tech and the government is unprecedented in human history. A lot of damage has been done to our way of life because of this, but we are still able to make changes if we united together on this issue and actively seek to help protect not only ourselves but also the general public as well.