Privacy Matters

            Humankind has relied on privacy since we started to walk on two legs and evolved to have posable thumbs.  Just like in Genesis (), once we ate from the fruit of knowledge and obtained intelligence, we have known our own shame. It is just a fable but I think there is an important piece of wisdom; with knowledge comes the need to “cover up” our own “nakedness.”  We need privacy for our own peace of mind.

            In earlier time, it wasn’t so hard.  Privacy within the household kept opinions of matters to one person or one family without being bought into an open forum for discussion among other members of a community.  Nobody wanted the possibility of being embarrassed or a lynch mob knocking at their doors.  And if someone did see something, it was your word against theirs.

            Today, we are not so lucky.  First, we no longer live in small communities.  The internet has opened everyone up to scrutiny on a global scale.  Second, devices used to invade privacy have gotten so devious that we willingly carry around the most viscous of these devices as a symbol of our placement in the social hierarchy.  Cellphones are not only owned by everyone, poor or rich, they are now mini computers with mics and cameras.  Literally, they track your every movement.  Thirdly, agencies now make it their business to know everyone intimately.  For governments and corporations this only means you should worry if you are a criminal.  But because of the methods of data collection that exist, we are more vulnerable to personal attacks on our bank account and our reputation.

            Its simple, privacy is an essential need among humans and the sudden taking away is the taking away of a basic human right.  What laws protect us from privacy invasion?  If it doesn't include loss of money and if you are not an important person, not many..  If you are a nobody, there is very little to do when a group of "friends" or "enemies" decide to hack you, record you,and shame you in front of the world.  Nobody got hurt, no money was lost, so what damage was done?  Its only a problem when its a problem.

            The definition of privacy from Dictionary.com is "the state or condition of being free from being observed or disturbed by other people."  The legal definition is the "right" to be let alone, or freedom from interference or intrusion.  "Privacy is about protecting people."  From Justice.gov

            It sounds like privacy is a basic human need and a constitutional right based on these definitions.  And it is.  Human beings need privacy so that they do not feel threatened, fearful, or embarrassed.  It’s a basic necessity to control overwhelming anxiety produced by the rest of life.  Everyone deserves a place that is guarded and alone time.

            The one place it is unequivocally guaranteed by the law and by sensibility is the bathroom.  In fact, the washroom, the locker room, changing room, or any place it is assumed a person might get naked is protected from any servaiilence.  Nowhere in this country is there a bathroom with a legal camera or mic in it.  Not even in supermax prison is it legal to have a surveillance stream.

            Along with this, the bedroom, or wherever a person is designated to sleep, is also guaranteed privacy.  This includes hotel rooms, guest rooms, tenements, and garden variety bedrooms across the land.  Under the law, these two places over a place of seclusion and privacy that cannot be invaded.

            But is any privacy guaranteed anywhere else?  Honestly, not really.  Once you venture into the world and are in a "public" area, the law is not going to line up with a private individuals mindset.  This is sort of the crux of the issue.  If privacy is not guaranteed outside of the bathroom and your bedroom, then it must be that it is absolutely guaranteed to you in those places.

            Here is a little thought experiment: there is a little hole or a weird mirror in the BNB you got a discount on.  Its very suspicious but you shrug and go along your way.  Guess what, that hole is a pin hole camera that is in the wall.  And the mirror, its a two way mirror with another camera.  In fact, there are five cameras total in the room and every one of them is not visible or consensual. 

            You might say "who cares, right?"  Well, what if you have kids?  What if you are a celebrity?  what if you have anything to lose?  Do you really want possible private photos or video of you in someones hands?  Most of the time I hear people say "they do not care that much" but they would if they just realized how malicious this is to everyone.

With tech today, that is no longer the case.  If a computer exists with a camera or mic than you can almost certainly conclude that that won't be a privately secured area.  Just how far does technology reach towards erasing privacy off the map?

            It was only 30 years ago when the first smart phone came out. During that time, however, most people didn't even have a basic cellphone.  Ten years later, almost all grownups in the US had a cellphone. Ten years after, almost everyone had a computer in there pocket.  The speed of advancement in tech is so fast that it happened in my lifetime and i am not even 40 yet.

            People are blase about the fact that a supercomputer 100000 times faster than what they used to get to the moon is used to send dick pics and watch movies.  Its astonishing.  Because of cellphones knowledge will be something you carny around instead of what you have.  In a lot of ways it will lead to betterment.

            Privacy is not one of those betterments.  (How many crimes are solved because of cellphone data.  Sounds goo right.  Well of course that is good.)  But the expense is everyone's privacy is compromised.

            Just think of it this way.  If there are ways of corporation (who think of money) and the government (who think of safety) to get the data they need to analyze your every movement than those routes exist for the nefarious bad people too.  In fact, most hackers who start off in their parents bedrooms will work for corporations and  Cybersecurity later in life, using the techniques they learned as mischievous children to get a paycheck.  It is a two way street.

            Cybersecurity is a huge market and just going to get bigger and bigger the more tech advances.  I don't want to talk about the dangers of escalating tech and the imminent danger of AI because that is not what this is about.  What i do want to talk about is the vulnerabilities that exist within tech.

            Like stated, tech has a lot of backdoor type of ways that normal people do not know of.  Being a millennial, i learned computers from an actual computer but never took coding and other advanced courses in computers.  I knew plenty of people when i was younger who were either in the field of computer tech or said "It is too big of a market for viability."  In other words, i know how a computer works more or less but do not know the sophistication of hacking at all.

            They were right 20 years ago, the market was flooded but its still very much a viable place to get work.