NSA not only one watching
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Americans do complain about confidentiality of their information. According to McClatchy of Tribune Business News in their article “NSA not only one watching” that was published on 14 July, 2013, the NSA is not the only institution accessing confidential data. There are businesses that also track customers without their knowledge such as the one instituted by Nordstrom that connects clients phones with the Wi-Fi systems. Companies doing the tracking system have largely gained customers from both the corporate world and even individuals. According to the self-proclaimed leaker Snowden, NSA has revealed a lot concerning government’s ability of using complicated scrutiny and data mining procedures on the citizens without much consideration (Dilanian, 2013).
However, it is believed that data gathered and oppressed by the internet gurus such as the social media are more superior to the information gathered by the National Security Intelligence. Of course the NSA cannot gather sufficient information from individuals concerned without using very powerful IT tools. The clients to these internet specialists are very ignorant about how their data is used (Dilanian, 2013). They do not understand where all the information that they have provided online are shared and cannot even tell the importance of their information by the respective companies.
According to the Chief technology officer of Madison Logic, the notion that NSA has advanced technologically compared to the corporate America is not true. Indeed the corporate American corporate are in a better position of acquiring all the information belonging to the citizens compared to the government. The government must therefore get the information from the companies because they are the only source. The government has to rely on technology to enhance their data mining job (Dilanian, 2013).
It is apparent that most companies access some of the most crucial and confidential information without the citizen’s knowledge. Google accesses all the emails that we send and receive anytime as Amazon company gets to know more about our shopping and even people we shop for. It therefore remains clear that the emails we send or4 receive are never as confidential as deemed by the users. This is really disturbing and it leaves one wondering whether advancement in technology means an increase in interference with individuals’ confidentiality rights (Dilanian, 2013).
The Big Data revolution has catapulted the issue of collecting and analyzing citizens data particularly clients to the internet giants. Though the idea of Big Data Revolution is of great help to consumers because the companies are able to design products according to the consumer’s opinions it is still privacy arbitrage. The customer satisfaction has been raised to a certain standard of their own feedbacks and recommendations as a result of automated analysis of customer preferences. The Big Data revolution is further essential in streamlining services offered by the government such as reduction of crime but the question is whether the need to provide services and security by the government overrides the need to ensure one’s confidentiality rights (Dilanian, 2013).
All the information about an individual can be manipulated due to ease of access and can therefore be wrongly used by groups such as identity thieves or even opponents in a civil lawsuit. Data access should therefore be regulated as much as possible to avoid such kind of access. It is unfortunate to see smartphones acting as tracking gadgets due to their ability to occasionally send signals about user’s locations. There are many other applications that give more details about individuals thus interfering with the confidentiality rights (Blanpain & Gestel, 2004). Just like the NSA argues that they only use personal data for security purposes such as terrorism, the companies such as Google and Verizon Wireless insist on using these data purely for sales purposes. However regardless of the different purposes and reasons suggested by these parties, whatever they do is privacy arbitrage. Every individual has a right of privacy which is very essential. The fact remains that they still hold very confidential information belonging to the citizens and they can manipulate them anytime because they may not be able to control the data (Dilanian, 2013).
This argument is very valid and effective because it addresses the main concern of Americans in an openly manner. The authors have pointed out several instances such as the way Google and Amazon companies accesses people’s data without their consent. It is also very true that the companies and the NSA may not be able to fully control the data they collect from people thus subjecting the information to manipulation (Blanpain & Gestel, 2004). It is very important for the individual’s confidentiality rights to be respected by both the internet companies and the NSA. Although it may seem difficult controlling these issues, their need a strong law constituted to at least minimize the effects of privacy arbitrage.
References
Blanpain, R., & Gestel, M. V. (2004). Use and monitoring of e-mail, intranet, and internet facilities at work: Law and practice. Hague [u.a.: Kluwer Law Internat.Dilanian, K. (2013, Jul 14). NSA not only one watching. McClatchy – Tribune Business News. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1399810235?accountid=45049
