Hillary Clinton recently spoke at a tech meeting in San Francisco. When I read the blog post summarizing her speech, she expressed some opinions about the tension between the NSA and their attempts to protect us from terrorist threats against the right to privacy. Should our government collect data on everyone in order to potentially track down terrorist threats? How much is too much?
I wish I could say I've formed strong opinions about how much data the government (and private companies like Google and Amazon) should be allowed to keep. We live in a world where technology has developed faster than our ability to understand the underlying implications of many conveniences. Just owning a cell phone means giving up a significant amount of privacy. Enabling all the cool functionality takes all of it away. Google keeps the history of your movements if you have an Android phone and turn the GPS on. While that's kinda creepy, it sure is cool to have a personal GPS device with you at all times. Mine has gotten me "unlost" too many times to count.
So I choose to keep my Android phone. I keep my GPS and other widgets turned off most of the time. I'm not a terrorist and I doubt the government will ever think I am. I choose not to engage in illegal activities, so I don't worry about surveillance cameras watching me when I'm in public places. I keep stuff in the cloud, but I do so carefully. I'm careful what I post on Facebook.
I get a sense of security knowing the government has facial recognition software. I don't mind them logging my cell phone calls. I save time by not getting lost as often as I used to and I appreciate Amazon's suggestions for cool stuff I should buy. I'll take the good with the bad.
King, Rachel. (2014, August 8). Hillary Clinton talks NSA and privacy, data security, tech jobs in San Francisco [Web log post]. Retrieved from ZDNet website: http://www.zdnet.com/hillary-clinton-talks-nsa-and-privacy-data-security-tech-jobs-in-san-francisco-7000033094/
Leonhard, Woody. (2014, September 4). Why the U.S. needs better privacy laws, now! Windows Secrets, 447. Retrieved from http://windowssecrets.com/newsletter/why-the-u-s-needs-better-privacy-laws-now/
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