Growing technology concerning the privacy of information
Since the advent of the internet, technology has revolutionized to the extent of making the world seem like a global village. Because of the internet, there is a free flow of information that has broken the distance barriers since any information can be accessed from anywhere within the world. The existence of the internet has significantly contributed to the emergence of new technologies that can collect personal or data belonging to an organization by transcending the physical and liberty enhancing limitations of the older means. The boundaries which used to define and advance integrity to the social systems and individuals have become permeable due to lack of appropriate special precautions (Zhang, n.p). As such, we are becoming a transparent and naked society with continuous advancement in technology. It was seconded by Mark Zuckerberg when he said that people have become comfortable when they share their information of a different kind more openly to many people.
People, according to the highest value to their privacy and protection of their personal life by exercising who is supposed to know and who is not supposed to know about them. It implies that no one would want any unauthorized person to access their information at a given time. However, this has been compromised by the advancements realized in technology. It is because they threaten privacy and further reduce the amount of control exercised over personal data and information (Berridge, 810).
The breach into privacy opens up the different types of negative consequences. The wake of the new millennium saw various data and information protection mechanisms intensified and implemented in response to the breach of privacy. However, the century also witnessed the growth and development of big data and the rise of big technology companies with large storage databases (Britz, 120).
The adverse outcomes related to the technology on the privacy of peoples’ information and data are real. It has been worsened by the fact that companies can collect, store, and disseminate vast quantities of information that they have collected from telephone conversations, the searches that people do on the internet, and the various accounts that people open with utility applications. The collection of this information by organizations can be accessed by the government agencies and any hackers that are endowed by the capability (Britz, 112).
Government agencies and technology companies that embrace the use of large-scale use and spread of advanced digital technologies for surveillance and control continue to raise privacy issues (Zhang, n.p). For businesses, personal data, and information concerning customers forms a pivotal asset to them since when unauthorized parties access the same, it results in negative consequences. The above explains why big technology companies like Apple, Facebook, Amazon, or Microsoft put in place privacy policies and mechanisms to help protect the data and information belonging to their clients.
Despite measures that have been put in place by these companies to protect peoples’ information, it is the same companies that go-ahead to require this kind of information and sometime release it to the public (Guberek et al., 13). The question of concern is whether the information requested by these companies should be readily available to the public when necessary. It is because there are no signs that signify slowing down the availability of this information as much of it is leaking, increasing its vulnerability to malicious usage by the hackers.
For instance, we have witnessed courts of law, and government agencies make public records available to the public for their benefits. The majority of the people are irritated since the information contained in the documents is usually sensitive (Chanson et al., n.p). A good example is when an individual goes bankrupt, and they have to file the information for the same. It is mandatory that they will have to disclose or material information and facts entailing their social security numbers, their bank credit numbers, the account balances, and the names of all the family members. The release of such information has perpetuated crimes related to identity theft. Here, one can use the above details to ask for loans and make purchases without the knowledge of the real holder of the data. Cases have been reported where thieves even go-ahead to withdraw cash from bank accounts in the victim’s bank accounts. As private organizations continue to keep inaccessible information databases, there is the endless intrusion of thieves in the databases to retrieve and misuse the same information.
With the dynamism experienced in growing technology concerning the privacy of information, much continue to remain to pose critical questions regarding peoples’ right to privacy of their data, particularly on online platforms. It is because the liberty of the above is directly connected to the freedom of human autonomy. Therefore, it calls for future research to enhance clarification of the correlation between technology and privacy. It will aid in the minimization of tracking people and conducting surveillance activities of the public space. As such, there will be a reduction in the vulnerability and exposure of curtailing the freedom of association of people that dictates the existence of a democratic community.