Are you sure it’s just you?
It’s a topic that has been discussed many times in the media
but has come to light more recently because of John Snowden the NSA whistle blower. He’s portrayed as
the traitor of the USA which is ironically nicknamed ‘the free world.’ However
his honesty has made me more aware of what the government in the UK knows about
me. In fact because of this I am no longer naïve to think that the government doesn’t
watch what I do online. I used to believe that because we are a democracy that
surveillance online isn’t actually happening. I actually thought that communist
countries like China who ban social media would be the only ones to take part
in such a thing. How wrong was I?
Surveillance technologies aren’t just about online
monitoring. It’s literally everywhere think CCTV, tracking systems and bugging.
The well-known term ‘Big Brother is watching you’ didn’t just occur because of
the reality show its real and it’s probably is or has happened to you without
your knowledge.
Google one of the
most successful companies in the world you’d think they would have thought to
make their products less evasive. I’m talking about Google Glass one of their most anticipated products ever. Nick
Pickles( 2013) “the reality of Google Glass. Everything you see,
Google sees. You don’t own the data,
you don’t control the data and you definitely don’t know what happens to the
data. Put another way – what would you say if instead of it being Google Glass, it was Government Glass? A
revolutionary way of improving public services, some may say” Just like the
flaw in copyright laws the authorship doesn’t always mean ownership rights.
Moreover selling information isn’t uncommon in this day and age. You know those
annoying emails, text messages and phone calls that seem to be about you? Well
those other companies got your information somehow and if you didn’t do it. It’s
not just the concern over what happens to the data collected Google Glass and who has access to it
but also the lack of privacy given to those walking in the street. Nick
Pickles(2013) “It’s already led to reactions in the US. ‘Stop
the Cyborgs’ might sound like the rallying cry of the next Terminator film, but
this is the start of a campaign to ensure places of work, cafes, bars and
public spaces are no-go areas for Google
Glass.” I’d be very self-conscious if I saw someone wearing those glasses
it’s not like they don’t stand out they are very obvious. Picture this your
walking around with kids or young sibling and someone is looking directly at
you wearing Google Glass, wouldn’t you
get defensive? I doubt the box it comes in lists all the inappropriate places
to wear them like toilets and nurseries.
Google may be
taking advantage of us but Yahoo seems to be taking steps in rectifying the
balance of power between the public and government. Although it’s an ongoing
struggle Yahoo is trying their best
to protect us. A BBC article states that “Yahoo said that as of March 31, all
information being transmitted from one Yahoo data centre to another is now
encrypted, making it more difficult for outsiders to decipher emails and other
information flowing between the centres” BBC(2014). Too bad I don’t
have a Yahoo account to benefit from it. The article further quotes Yahoo "We
will continue to work hard to deploy the best possible technology to combat
attacks and surveillance that violate our users' privacy," he added,
without specifically mentioning the US government surveillance or allegations
that the NSA spied on Yahoo users. My
only question is that does Yahoo really have the power to defy a powerful
government? They’ve given away our information before when asked to who says
they won’t do it again?
You may not know it but surveillance does have its
advantages. For instance governments around the world always use the threat of
terrorism as a justification on spying on their citizens. I guess we should be grateful
that they are keeping us safe. Journalist Leo Kelion (2013) quotes Foreign Secretary William Hague who said “that law-abiding
citizens have nothing to be worried about.” That is a good point if you’re
excessively angry about this then maybe you’re doing something wrong. On the
flip side to William Hague’s statement it almost sounds like a threat within
itself as if the government are saying we can do whatever we want whenever we
want. Not all of us want to harm people some of us just want what should be
private to actually be private and not be available at the governments whim. However surveillance especially of online activity has stopped a lot of crime
such as child pornography which kind of makes me think it's worth it.
To conclude Deuze, M(2012:102) cites Lyon,D(2001:1) “All
societies that are dependent on communication and information technologies for
administrative and control processes are surveillance societies. The effects of
this are felt in ordinary everyday life, which is closely monitored as never
before in history.” This highlights that we have little control on the data
that is collected by us which is worrying because privacy is our right.
Bibliography
Books
Deuze, M .(2012) Media
Life, Cambridge: England. Chapter 4: ‘No Life Outside Media’ pp.101-130.
Online
Pickles,N (2013) Google
Glass: Orwellian surveillance with fluffier branding [Online]. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/9939933/Google-Glass-Orwellian-surveillance-with-fluffier-branding.html
[accessed 02/04/14].
BBC (2014)Yahoo encrypts data centres and plans to add Messenger [Online]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26863390 [accessed 03/04/14].
Kelion,L(2013) Q&A: NSA's Prism internet surveillance scheme [Online]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23051248 [accessed 01/04/14].
