Online Privacy

The first topic I want to talk about is how the man in the first video mentioned that constant regulation of what we were doing allows governments, companies, and people to know our preferences. He used the example of the black dress. The video surveillance picked up on the fact that you often wear black dresses and then you go into a store where they conveniently have five black dresses picked out for you to try on. While this is absolutely an invasion of privacy, I can’t help but let my mind wander to the positive side of this. While I don’t like my privacy being invaded, is it so bad to have marketing and advertising targeted to what I like? If I like to wear black dresses, isn’t it kind of efficient that ads of black dresses are targeted towards me? If I regularly shop for crafting supplies, isn’t it convenient when I am alerted of a sale on crafting items? 

In the same tune, I can’t help but think of the positive side of the police departments having access to civilians like never before. On one hand, it does kind of creep me out that the government has hundreds of pictures of me. It creeps me out that they know where I go and what I do and who I go with. It creeps me out that they can pull up my license plate tag and figure out if I attend church or therapy or AA. It is eerie that the government is able to gather information on civilians like never before. Maybe it is the optimist in me that has to see the good. We live in a very dangerous world today. While I am creeped out, I also find a sense of peace knowing that the police have easy access to so many people in a given community. God forbid something should go wrong, I find comfort going to the police department and feeling confident that they could resolve the issue with such vast information readily available. 

With all of this in mind, I take to heart the advice given in these videos. They inspired me to really rethink what I post online as it is never really private. It encouraged me to take precautions using the tools I have available to me like encryption devices to ensure my privacy. It helped me put into perspective that while technology is a blessing, it can also be very damaging to our private lives and that we should all use it with caution.