In “Developing an Opinion on Edward Snowden’s Leaks”, the author describes some of the negative consequences of privacy violations. I think he hits three important points, but I want to highlight some of my thoughts on the posted Ted Talk by Glenn Greenwald.
- Throughout the presentation, Greenwald attempts to legitimize the importance of privacy in our lives. He says that humans will inherently act differently when they know they are being watched and that people everywhere will refuse to give up private information even when they have nothing to hide. I completely agree with this statement, but I think a problem arises when humans are under undetected surveillance. Does their behavior actually change without them knowing? And does surveillance make human nature inherently bad or unnatural and which is worse?
- Greenwald also makes reference to the social characteristics of humans. People interact with others everyday and peoples’ actions are often influenced by others around them. Does the fact that our behavior is molded by our environment in some way similar to the change in behavior brought about by a privacy breach?
- Lastly, people do have the option to fight back against privacy breaches by limiting their internet use or using private search engines (see link below), but many people do not. Does this mean that they are not worried about their privacy or just too lazy to do something about it?
Overall, I think we are in an ever-changing battle with technology. In order to gain the benefits of today’s connected world, people must display their “private” information for others to see. Snowden’s file breach has made people realize the consequences of surveillance, but whether people will actually change their actions is a different question entirely.
Time Magazine Article “11 Simple Ways to Protect Your Privacy”
http://techland.time.com/2013/07/24/11-simple-ways-to-protect-your-privacy/