Most people would say that privacy is a crucial right, however big companies and organizations, such as Google and the federal government, have been pushing the boundaries of privacy. The average person generates approximately a gigabyte of data everyday, and more of that data than ever before can now be collected and used in different ways. However, many people do not want this data to be collected from them. A recent example of data collection going too far is the case against Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook last year. Here is a link to the article on the case from the New York Times, including a video of Zuckerberg’s testimony. Many people are outraged at the fact that their data can be harvested and seen by huge companies, and often times sold to other companies so that your private information has spread to many different areas.
This invasion of people’s data has caused people to alter the way they use the internet. Most people will at the least have some sort of cyber security system on their browser, such as a firewall. Many people are intent on making sure their privacy is kept, which springs up products such as a tabs for devices that cover the camera so that nobody can access it. While many people do not think that so much personal data should be collected and seen by others, there is a strong counterargument. More collection of data means major possible improvements across many different fields.
The health industry is an example of where an increase in gathering data could help a multitude of people. With modern technology scientists are able to create a device that people can put on that tracks a person’s heart rate, blood pressure, and other vitals at all times. This device can warn a person if there is an issue such as an upcoming heart attack so that they have enough time to seek medical help before it actually occurs. This device would be constantly gathering data from a person’s body, which is exactly why many people would not want something like this hitting mainstream usage. The human body generates about two terabytes of data everyday, and this technology is able to collect all of that data. This means that there could be thousands of different people that all have information on things like a person’s heartbeat at all times. This is seen as an invasion of privacy to many people, which is why limiting the misuse of data is an issue that the government pays strong attention to.
Data collection is used by companies to make the lives of their customers better. Sites such as Google collect an incredible amount of data from users which allows them to provide relevant advertisements and accurately predict what the user is going to search based on their past. However, when does this begin to invade a person’s privacy? Google could gather the data from a hospital showing that a patient just had a child. Then they would use this information and advertise products for babies and new mothers to the patient. This sharing of information between different companies and across industries is where people believe their privacy is intruded upon. Companies continue to try and collect more data and push the boundaries of privacy, and this is where we will see a true data encroachment.
Nick Bagley
Information Science 