#wiretappers

The fact that the government could have hired a stranger to look at the most unimportant and insignificant parts of our lives and examine them would give us the chills. Would you voluntarily give some stranger on the street your email password? You have a right to have some control over where the information in your life reaches, and governments reading your texts, emails and other forms of private electronic communication is a violation of your rights.

Data mining conducted by the NSA has been long considered controversial. Despite the well-known argument of having nothing to hide, there is more than “hiding” involved when civilians do not wish for their governments to have access to their data. The thought of a stranger having access to every precise detail in your life is scary because we fear what will happen and how this data can be used against us. What if this data fell into the wrong hands, jeopardising our already fragile security? The civilians are the ones who sand the most to lose with this practice of data mining, and governments who still proceed with data mining, have much to reconsider, and whether their primary job as a “government” is being done.

While Zuckerberg has initially shown himself to be a great supporter  of the right to privacy, as Facebook grew, he began to turn away from the privacy movement. For example, Facebook introduced a controversial move in 2013 to change the privacy settings of its then 350 million users. It also introduced BEACON, which is able to allow ad companies to continuously track the movements of its users. However, he has been recently trying to revamp his company’s image, by promoting pro-privacy stances to better target privacy-conscious millennials and users. This includes how Facebook bought Whatsapp for 15 billion and installed a new character on Facebook to warn about oversharing to demonstrate his change in company stance to better reflect the opinions of the people. However, some have questioned why he describes privacy as a “control” and have questioned whether social media companies, that profit from people’s lack of privacy, will truly achieve the complete right to privacy. 

This short video clip delves into the suspicionless nature of NSA spying and how the US government has knowingly lied to its people about the extent of its surveillance.

Fingertips on screen, as you wonder aloud, who’s there?

Snowden has largely painted himself as an advocate for government transparency, continuously standing up for the right of privacy by maintaining an active presence on his Twitter account. He has explained that his motive in releasing these controversial information was due to his need to inform the public of the government’s infringement into their daily lives, as well as to trigger debate on the right to privacy. Since then, while he has successfully caused much discussion on this topic, many have questioned if he has actually betrayed his country due to the fact that he exposed confidential information that could have been critical to the security of the nation. Naysayers have argued that the government has kept these information confidential for security reasons, and Snowden’s actions have created much unnecessary mistrust and resentment among the people against the government. However, Snowden is still seen as the catalyst for the current heated debates on the right to privacy, and has ignited the movement in the protection of these rights. 

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