Privacy, Online & Off

        These issues affect me because I am a United States citizen and like anyone else, many of these privacies are being taken away from people for just having a phone or driving a car. These are objects that have now become essential aspects of everyday life so it is basically impossible to avoid these exploits of our privacy. It affects my friends and family in the same way, and now I have to worry about our conversations being listened to, not only over the phone, but in-person if we are even just talking nearby a phone. If my license plate is also being tracked I don't want the government to see where I am always going when I visit family and friends. I think that the government should be regulating these invasions of our privacy to some extent. It is obviously hard to draw a fine line between when and why the government should be allowed to gather this data. I support the government using these methods to catch criminals but it goes without saying that most people are not a risk to society. There are a handful of things we can do to protect our privacy but it isn't always the easiest thing nowadays. For starters, people have become very relaxed with our phones and especially with social media. It isn't a bad thing to be open about your life, but there are definitely some precautions that should be taken when posting on social media. One thing that obviously helps is having a private social media account, although many times people still simply accept requests from just about anyone and defeat the purpose of a private account. We should try to keep personal information like where we live, names of family members, and other things like work and school as private as we can. 

“Facial Recognition in the US: Privacy Concerns and Legal Developments.” ASIS Homepage, https://www.asisonline.org/security-management-magazine/monthly-issues/security-technology/archive/2021/december/facial-recognition-in-the-us-privacy-concerns-and-legal-developments/#:~:text=Reintroduced%20in%20June%2C%20the%20Facial,a%20private%20right%20of%20action.