Blog Post #5: Privacy, Online & Off

I first realized how terrifyingly broken our privacy system is when my family was visiting my father’s long time friend.

I was too embarrassed to admit I forgot his name so I looked up his address to find out. In under 5 minutes, I uncovered his full name, his last four addresses, his entire phone number history, along with similar records for his wife and 2 kids. And truthfully, I didn’t actually know his actual address, I just pulled up google maps while my dad was parking the car and went from there.

I did that just to avoid a social blunder but imagine if someone with actual malicious intent wanted that information. It doesn’t have to be on a grand international scale either; stalkers are not a far fetched idea and online harassment has become so common and accessible due to the lack of privacy.

When it comes to license plate tracking and data farming, it's not just about privacy— it's about who uses the data and why.

Data collection is framed as necessary for public safety, but Police have a long history of being biased when enforcing the law. Now bear with me (pun intended) while I relate this to the Militia aspect of the 2nd Amendment: A major point was enabling citizens to resist a tyrannical government the ‘Militia’ aspect “meant physical protection from government overreach”.

But today, the car you would drive to buy a gun is tracked, your online searches are monitored, and your phone passively listens to your conversations. This invasive level surveillance only holds up when safety is the priority. So what if it’s suddenly not?

This is a very real reality when we look at how Revenge Porn is handled.

Remember that digital tattoo: the concept that once something is on the internet it's there for everyone to see forever? There’s some truth in that but it’s not concrete. It IS possible to keep things confidential. The government redacts documents all the time, and corporations get ironclad privacy.

It’s even a joke about how quickly copyright laws will ban or remove content that breaks copyright laws. Imagine if someone leaked a Disney movie? It would be scrubbed from the internet in seconds.

So what about Revenge Porn? Why don’t people own the copyrights to their own body? People deserve the same level of urgency the government provides to a corporation. Human rights deserve more respect than a website's ability to generate ad revenue.

Profit should never excuse a lack of integrity.