Gaining Technology, Losing Privacy
In 1968, the “Wiretap Act” was
passed to protect Americans wire and oral privacy (for phones and other means
of communications). With the advancement of technology the act was amended to
the “Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)” in order to include
electronic communications. Many different court cases, such as United States vs. Councilman, were
undergone in order to revise the Act to cover technological advancements. For
years we have fought for our right to privacy, to be able to withhold any
information we considered personal; yet, recently, with the advancement of
technology, we have been releasing our information without giving a second
thought to the idea of our privacy. With amenities such as our smart phones, it
is difficult to not release our information into the virtual world of the
Internet. Applications, such as Footprints,
Phone Tracker for IPhones, and Chase
Bank, are helpful to everyday tasks, such as contacting friends, knowing
where your children are, and depositing a check, leading people to believe that
they are only beneficial to society and cannot be bad; however, most of these
applications are methods of accessing our personal information and,
consequently, lead to an invasion of privacy.
Smart phones store all sorts of
information onto their databases. These gadgets can save anything you have entered
into your phone and modify their archives to be personally useful to each user.
Even in regards to texting, the iPhone modifies its auto-corrections to suit
the vocabulary of its user. It is one of the most useful and easy-to-use pieces
of technology that has been invented, thus leading people to believe that it is
harmless; it is handy and worth every penny, so how could it be bad?
The answer to this question is simple
enough. It is only bad if the user is ignorant of its functions and
capabilities. In the article "Sorry, Smartphone Owners, But You're More
Likely To Have Your Privacy Invaded" in Forbes Magazine, Pew Research Center reports, “Some 15% of
smartphone owners say that someone has accessed their phone in a way that made
them feel their privacy was invaded…” (Hill). A mere 15% acknowledge that their
smartphones hold a massive amount of personal information and that many people,
through different applications on the phone, can access it. This proves that
most of society is naïve about the existing invasion of privacy through
smartphones; therefore, society does not know that there is any sort of threat
to losing their personal information.
Consumers also want to justify their
expenditure on such a gadget, which leads to the denial of the existing
negative aspects of a smart phone, such as the invasion of privacy. On the
other hand, many people who do learn and accept the idea of this existing
security threat stop the use of applications on their phones and withhold their
information. The Pew Research Center has also reported, “30% of app users have
uninstalled an app that was already on their cell phone because they learned it
was collecting personal information that they didn’t wish to share…” (Hill).
This claim proves that smart phone users are more careful about their personal
information when they are informed of an existing threat to their privacy.
A specific application on the iPhone that
is a complete invasion of privacy is the “Find Your Friends” App. The
application is for iPhone users only and it allows you to track the exact
location of your friends/family at any given time through the tracker on the
iPhone. Although users of the application may say it is not invading your
privacy because it is merely telling you the location of the person’s iPhone, this
application opens a new window to invading our privacy by allowing others to
know our whereabouts 24/7, thus leading to stalking and trailing of people.
Yet, many parents approve of this
assaulting application. Parents are not only protective and scared, but are also
curious about their children’s lives, which leads to them invading their
children’s privacy. Parents will say using this application it is not an
invasion of privacy because they feel they have the right to know exactly where
their children are at any given moment; however, in reality, it is an invasion
of privacy because these children may not know that their parents are tracking
them and following their every move. A plus side to this application is that the
user of the phone (even a child) can delete it; on the other hand, as reported
by Amy Lee in the Huffington Post, the
new application Footprints has “a
parental control feature that makes it impossible for the child to remove it
(the application) without the passcode” (Lee). IPhone applications are becoming
slyer and easier to manipulate even by adults who are just learning to use a
smart phone for tasks other than making phone calls.
Another issue that has arisen parallel to
the use of smart phone applications is the rate of identity theft from smart
phones. Smart Phone applications and websites in relation to Chase Bank and Bank of America store information that has been entered into their
databases. If you enter your pin, username, or password on the Chase website
while on an unprotected wireless network, a hacker can easily take hold of this
information and have access to your bank account. According to the article “Baby Boomers Need to Improve Their Digital
Security Practices” in TechJournal, “81
percent (of adults ages 46-64) own desktop computers, 61 percent use laptops,
and another 30 percent have smartphones.” Yet, out of all these adults “almost
60 percent do not use a cell phone password” (Paulson). With smart phones and
their applications saving all information that is inputted into the database
and the lack of security due to misuse or non-use of passwords, it has become
easier than ever for a hacker to access the information quickly and without the
owner knowing. Therefore, smartphone users should always use password protected
wireless networks when accessing banking websites or applications.
Another factor that assists the invasion
of privacy through technology is the fact that most smartphones and laptops
automatically connect to nearby unprotected wireless networks. Hackers can
compile information from one’s smartphone or computer that is connected to the
same network as the hacker, especially if the network is not password protected.
In the New York Times article “New
Hacking Tools Pose Bigger Threats to Wi-Fi Users,” Kate Murphy states, “a free
program called Firesheep, released in October, has made it simple to see what
other users of an unsecured Wi-Fi network are doing and then log on as them at
the sites they visited” (Murphy). The
way this system works is complicated to understand but it is exceptionally simple
to use; the report conducted in February 2011 claims, “More than a million
people have downloaded the program in the last three months” (Murphy). This
means that over a million people have access to tons of personal information on
other people’s devices. This massive invasion of privacy can be specifically
blamed on the expansion of technology and the explosion of access to these
technological advancements.
We all know that “tablets and smartphones
simply make life easier by allowing access to family photos, banking, shopping,
and medical records from any location at any time” (Murphy). What most people
don’t know is the vulnerability of their personal information when it is put
onto the database of a technological gadget. Technology is invading our privacy
and, as a society, we rely heavily on the Internet and our smartphones for even
miniscule tasks, but we need to take precautions in order to maintain our
privacy. Passwords and locks will reduce the risk of being hacked when on a
public wireless network; putting little to no personal information on
smartphone applications will remove the risk of losing that information.
Works Cited
Doughton, Semone. “SPECIAL REPORT: The Dangers of Mobile
Banking.” WTVM.com-Columbus, GA
News Weather & Sports. WTVM, 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2012.
Hill, Kashmir. "Sorry, Smartphone
Owners, But You're More Likely To Have Your Privacy Invaded." Forbes.
Forbes Magazine, 06 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2012.
Lee, Amy. "Footprints IPhone App
Lets You Track Your Kids, Spouse, Friends (PICTURES)." The Huffington
Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 05 May 2011. Web. 24 Nov. 2012.
Murphy, Kate. "New Hacking Tools
Pose Bigger Threats to Wi-Fi Users." The New York Times. The New York
Times, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 24 Nov. 2012.
Paulson, Neil. "Baby Boomers Need to
Improve Their Digital Security Practices.” TechJournal RSS. TechJournal,
01 Oct. 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2012.
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