excessive use of emerging technologies
Introduction
Today the world is ever-changing with the introduction and excessive use of emerging technologies and the advancement of modern technology every day. The purpose of the internet has been increasing over the past decades, and at the same time, it has ushered in new and improved methods of doing things by individuals and organizations. This has significantly impacted many individuals who mostly rely on technology in their daily operations. These new technologies have much helped in improving the way of doing things, communication, and maintaining an individual’s privacy. However, these technologies have their merits as well as demerits; hence, individuals and most of the organizations ought to ensure that they have robust security frameworks to help them deal with any emerging threats that can jeopardize their operations and affect their performance. Major attacks and security breaches in organizations and individuals have affected them due to the lack of security frameworks. However, several methods can be used to ensure that they have excellent and robust security frameworks. Most organizations today use firewalls to protect the data they have and ensure that their operations are not hindered in any way by unauthorized people like hackers. This paper will, therefore, be discussing the extent to which the individuals enjoy privacy as a result of using technology. It will also explain how forthcoming developments in technology impact an individual’s privacy. Finally, it will explain the responsibilities of computer scientists and engineers in considering user privacy when they are developing software and hardware products.
In the recent past, the world has dramatically been experiencing technological advancement and mostly in the development of computer software and hardware. The use of technology has significantly influenced the way people do things and their ways of life. As long as we all use technology in our daily today life, every individual’s privacy has to be maintained. Like on Facebook, 25 percent of users don’t know that Facebook tracks their location, 50 percent of the users have not used the view as a feature to see what information is public. At least 15 percent of users include their full birthday, 17 percent of users include their schooling information, and 43 percent include their daily activities, which are visible to the public. The big question is whether people put too much personal information on social media? Many people already know the basics of social media that you shouldn’t put your data, and everyone usually knows the basics of security in general that there are security cameras in most public places. Many also know that many schools have security cameras outside, inside, or in both locations to survey the students and possible outside threats to keep order in the building. The use of technology has dramatically enhanced all this. Most also know that a police officer can search your house if they have a search warrant through technology. With every advancement in technology, our private lives become more open for invasion and scrutiny by the general public. It is true that the CCTV security surveillance is essential and that the NSA is vital to the safety of every individual. Still, sometimes it is questionable if the NSA and CCTV have to go to such extremes with surveillance. Criminals and bad citizens also will try to enter into accounts to steal personal information or numbers for credit cards in attempts to harm or scam the individual the criminal is getting the information from. In most cases, individuals have not bee sure of the level of privacy as a result of using technology as well as data-gathering.
User privacy in data-gathering
The user’s expectation of privacy on using technology is not only misunderstood but also ill-defined. Protections in place for the user are selected depending upon various collection methods used by companies soliciting the information, the kind of policies put in place by those firms, and government agencies willing to legislate and regulate the entire process. Unambiguous data-gathering methods and pro-active legislations are obvious solutions; however, that too comes with varying complications and is often confusing to the users. These complications can also be reduced or eliminated by a company’s IT department acting in accordance with self-regulated guidelines and ethical standards. Although many efforts are being made by consumer advocacy groups and through legislation to regulate their privacy online, it continues to be an ongoing debate legally and ethically. Most of the firms have now been able to use advanced consumer information data-gathering methods, which ensure user privacy is maintained. Therefore, it is evident that the use of modern technology and advanced data-gathering techniques makes individuals enjoy privacy.
Today, most people use their computers in their day to day operations either at their homes or offices. They visit so many websites in search of relevant information to help them in their duties. Before the advancement in technology, personal information was easily harked and accessed by an unauthorized person. Most of the people were not comfortable using their computers to visit various sites. This was due to the fear that their personal information could be accessed by the public or the hackers making their operations insecure. Due to advancements in technology, various softwares assist the user in the keeping of the unauthorized persons and keeping information confidential. Public monitoring is a necessary nuisance that can violate the privacy of the people but can also create a public space that is safer than it would be without the CCTV surveillance cameras. The CCTV cameras are as a result of advancement in technology. There have been many statistics that show that places with a massive crime rate aren’t hit with crimes as heavily after the CCTV surveillance cameras are installed. Still, the privacy of multiple girls had been recorded to have been violated by male operators of the cameras since the pictures have gotten better, so they have zoomed in on young girls for their pleasure while surveilling different areas, and the girls aren’t even aware that they were being watched. Technology is also used in schools for monitoring to creates a feeling of safety and security for many students, but for some, the cameras create an environment of distrust where students feel like they cannot be relaxed, for they have a fear that they are continually being watched. This shows that individuals are not enjoying their privacy as long as technology is used for security purposes. Even though some students feel uneasy about security cameras, many schools in the UK still use them since it has been showing that they deter vandalism and bullying in schools. Many office buildings and workplaces are also monitored to keep the workers on task and to control their actions, but some workers become paranoid, knowing that they are being watched. They have no privacy when at work since the management uses the various cameras to monitor them. Most of the time, though, this type of surveillance comes in handy. For example, in 2004, the Australian Industrial Commission’s surveillance evidence to prove that a worker had sent pornographic images to their female colleague. This evidence helped to bring the case to the courtroom. Most people have been seen to be wrongly using their computers either at home or at the workplace. This can later be discovered if they had visited pornographic sites. If it had not been surveyed, this event might have never had enough evidence to bring to court. Workers in office buildings have also been recorded to become stressed, to have lower morale, and to resent their employer because of constant surveillance. Still, many employers have found that with weighing the good with the bad, security cameras are an addition to the workplace that causes many workers to be much more productive than they were without surveillance. This shows that individuals have no privacy as a result of using technology. Also, various organizations have software that records whatever things that the workers have been doing on their computers. Their managers follow their daily doings, and therefore they have no privacy in using their computers.
Government agencies also collect information and survey the general public so that they can obtain information on individuals that are a threat to the public’s general well-being. Government agencies have gotten the right to enter people’s homes with a search warrant and to plant cameras without the individual’s consent, but police have been found to have entered people’s houses without search warrants in the past. They have taken advantage and had planted infrared cameras in people’s homes since they were suspected of being involved in criminal activities. They are wrongly using technology and data-gathering methods, and the individuals seem not to enjoy their privacy. Barack Obama had also set out on a mission on November fifth, 2012, to make it legal for the police to install cameras on an individual’s property without their knowledge or a search warrant, but many argue that this is violating the second amendment. But sometimes the police don’t even have to install cameras in your household. All they have to do is log into Facebook and look up your name to find out the basic outline of the individual’s life. Employers, friends, criminals, and anyone with a computer can find a large amount of personal info on a person when an individual has a public social media account. In 2008, a reporter went onto Facebook and could find a high schooler’s school name, home address, phone number, workplace, etc. just by looking at their Facebook profile page. But besides social media, databases also hold information about people that businesses usually start but will hand over to the Government with ease and will hand the information to other companies for a price. This clearly shows that individuals are hardly enjoying their privacy as a result of technology use and data gathering. Also, all calls and texts are stored in databases so, if the information is needed, the Government has access to it. The NSA collects phone records from phone companies in bulk, but the Government over time will delete messages off of the database that they do not find relevant. The keystone programming by the NSA can see “nearly everything a user does on the internet” through their computer. The government does this for the protection of the American people, but many individuals are upset over this fact. They feel that people should have privacy, but the government makes use of technology to regulate terrorism. Even with this fact, some think that the government goes too far with security and that they should enjoy freedom as a result of technology use.
Technology keeps on advancing daily, and it is believed that the forthcoming developments in technology will significantly affect the individual’s privacy. Currently, it is not all online invasion of privacy is for surveillance purposes, some go online and invade other’s privacy for credit card numbers, and to torment and harass others. Bullying online can go to great lengths hurt the individual’s feelings by releasing private information without permission. YouTube has been used to upload countless private videos of people that the individual in the video does not want it shared. A Girl named Georgia was cyberbullied by fellow girls at school over the internet, and these girls almost drove Georgia to take her own life. Criminals have also hurt others online, but instead of attacking their feelings, they attack their bank account. Criminals and even some seemingly ordinary civilians use technology to violate the privacy of others to obtain credit card numbers and social security numbers to hijack identities. For instance, Mike Jones was a victim of identity theft. He had gotten around 10,000 dollars stolen out of his bank account. These 10,000 dollars were used towards fraud purchases, and his credit card was taken by an unknown individual obtaining their credit card passwords. Laura Love and David Jackson had stolen 30 of their neighbor’s identities by getting their social security numbers and credit card numbers by going into unsecured WIFI servers. This is an excellent example of using technology to violate the individual’s privacy, causing harm to their lives. Many people will also hack into your accounts to stalk and to harass other individuals on the internet, and this is due to a lack of proper security for the individuals using technology. Criminals and other civilians violate the privacy of an individual while communicating with the said individual.
Cassidy Wolf had a laptop with the malware black shades installed so her stalker could get into her webcam and take screenshots. The criminal had tried to blackmail her into sending him more explicit pictures of herself, but Cassidy’s family had acquired the FBI involved, and the culprit behind the invasion is now behind bars. Joe Good had also been affected. After a nasty breakup, he got his e-mail compromised, he got fired from his job, he got reported as a pedophile, and he almost got his children taken away because of an ex-girlfriend who was out for revenge after he broke up with her. The girlfriend was caught after she had sent death threats to Joe’s daughter. The use of technology plays a very vital role in maintaining the security of individuals. At the same time, it may help to keep users’ privacy or even violate their privacy.
Since technology keeps on advancing and the computer scientists and engineers are doing their part to develop new software and hardware, they have the responsibility to consider users’ privacy in the future. They should consider developing the software and hardware products that have proper security features that are capable of maintaining an individual’s information and data whenever they use the internet. User privacy is the key whenever an individual is using the internet, and it calls for the efforts of the computer scientists and engineers to try and develop the best software to ensure the individuals using technology enjoy their privacy. They should consider computer software, which is capable of keeping personal data confidential and away from hackers. They should develop and encourage the use of firewalls in safeguarding personal and organization information from unauthorized individuals. The firewalls are network security systems that help in monitoring and controlling the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. This is capable of establishing the barriers between the untrusted external networks and trusted internal networks such as the internet. Computer scientists should always keep the software they develop updated to modern technology to avoid the chances of people invading and harking other people’s information whenever they use technology. If they work to come up with better software and hardware, they will significantly help in ensuring that users’ privacy is maintained whenever they use the internet. Individuals will be using their computers without any fear that their data would be harked or interfered with by intruders. Organizations will be sure that their confidential data is safe from any unauthorized persons, and their networks are more reliable than before. A good example is how firewalls work in protecting and controlling the organization’s network.
Conclusion
In conclusion, technology is advancing very rapidly, and we need to learn to secure our personal information so that we are safe both financially and physically. With every advancement in technology, our private lives become more open for invasion and scrutiny by the general public. Technology won’t wait for the public to catch up with the security that is required to maintain their privacy when using technology. The forthcoming development in technology impacts profoundly on individuals’ privacy since more software is being developed to ensure that the confidentiality of the technology users is maintained. Technology is so crucial to our daily lives, and we should embrace it as much as it keeps on advancing. Every individual has the right to enjoy privacy when using the internet, and this can only be enhanced by the efforts of computer scientists and engineers when developing software and hardware products.
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