Privacy in the Digital Age (Blog 8)

After taking time to watch the TED Talks regarding privacy, I was amazed at how easy it is to gain information about someone just off of daily activities. The government has so many ways to learn about us humans and what we do, honestly, it is pretty freaky. 

In Juan Enriquez's speech, we learned that everything follows us around on the internet. I grew up in an age where my parents always said, "What you choose to put out on the internet, stays there forever." His video confirmed that and actually proved there was a website that was able to identify somebody just off their face in a photo, once again, pretty freaky. 

Throughout Catherine Crump's video, I was most surprised to learn that we are always being, "tracked" in a way. At the beginning of her video, she said wherever we go in a car, we are giving information to ourselves to the government. "If you drive your car around the United States it can reveal that you go to a therapist, attend an alcoholic meeting, if you go to church, or if you don't go to church." This is something I never realized as I was driving around my country, now that I am aware of it, I would think twice about where I am going.

In Christopher Sohogian's speech, it was interesting to know that someone could be listening to a conversation that two people are having through a phone call. That is pretty scary, especially if that was a private conversation that one was having with their closest friend. This can lead to the government obtaining more information about innocent people. In order to avoid this, it is safer to save conversations to have in person rather than over the phone. The government once again won't do anything about these issues, as they are getting "free" information.  

In just a short time of listening to a few people speak about privacy, I learned way more information than what I previously knew about my privacy through technology. Honestly, I am glad I was assigned this blog. I will keep all information learned for future phone calls, drives, and posts on the internet.