De Anda, Diaz, Sorto, Trayford 1

Brian De Anda
Daniel Diaz
Alcides Sorto
Miranda Trayford
Personal Privacy
Privacy is something that we all crave as human beings, yet it is something that we have
to constantly fight for. In a world of 7 billion people, it is important to feel secure in a space of
your own whether that be mentally or spatially. Though there is no explicit amendment in the
Constitution that defines our right to privacy, the Supreme Court has said that several of the
amendments create this right (ACLU, 2016). We all see privacy as a basic human right, but are
we really protected in this digital world of ours? Technically speaking, there is no such thing as
privacy when it comes to the Internet there is always someone who has access to your
information whether you know it or not. This is something that our team has come to realize over
the course of our education, and will continue to recognize and take into consideration while
continuing to develop our online presence. Privacy is a very individualistic topic, because our
sense of privacy stems from the world around you and your experiences growing up. Within this
reflection, my team and I will be discussing the prevalence of privacy in our lives and how it
compares to the world around us.
Tancers Click encompasses a critical analysis on the new age of information and
champions for society to adapt to the Internet given the immense insight it grants to users and
corporations. For businesses, Tancer calls it tapping into the feedback loop - from the simple,

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tactical use of planning when to promote products online, such as prom dresses and engagement
rings, to the visualization in the charting of search versus social-network traffic into a bands
official website (Tancer, 151). A whole new level of intelligence is available to corporations
which can be used to make decisions in an even more precise and accurate manner -- the
Internets medium and information gives companies the ability to directly reach a niche market
with a well-catered product. One can argue that this gives consumers both more power and more
freedom to pick and choose the best products that suits their needs. In terms of benefits for
everyday users, Tancers biggest selling point lies on the usage of the Internet as a means to
immediately reveal insight into what affects us. Todays information age gives us the ability to
receive all of our news on-demand in a format and a place that suits our needs (Tancer, 152).
Similar to targeted advertisement, we now have the ability to carefully peruse and customize
information that only we are interested in. The age of information provides a safe and private
medium through which one can query for information; for example, todays search engines have
become the number one confidant in the most common fears.
Without a doubt, the Internet has opened the doors to a worldwide online community.
Opening up a newspaper to read the news in the morning; going to the local or university library
to research a niche topic; communicating only via phone or hand written letters; commuting to a
local commerce establishment to browse and purchase goods or services -- all of these events are
a relic of a time gone by. Society has welcomed a new and more convenient manner to consume
and produce information at the most rudimentary level. However, in order to provide such
intelligent and precise communication, e-commerce, transportation, media and entertainment

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systems, we have to trade off one of the more prevalent rights as citizens of this country:
privacy. The collection, process and storage of information pertaining to our beings is what
makes such technological systems intelligent to recommend and suggest pertaining to your
current interaction with the Internet. One of the best examples like in Googles email system,
Gmail, and their catered advertisements based on the content of your emails: Googles terms of
service state that our automated systems analyze your content (including emails) to provide you
personally relevant product features, such as customized search results, and tailored advertising
(Oreskovic). Many of the other technological companies are no secret to the collection of user
information and intrusion of privacy -- OkCupid, an online dating site, began collecting data to
improve their matchmaking algorithms without directly informing the user (Hern). Although
companies use the information to construct and improve the products they sell, the infrastructure
exists for parties such as governments to step in and demand access to such information. Perhaps
the most alarming example lies in Prism, a system that the NSA uses to gain access to the private
communications of users of nine popular Internet services. A classified presentation leaked by
Edward Snowden states that PRISM enables collection directly from the servers Microsoft,
Yahoo, Google, Facebook and other online companies (Lee). Interestingly enough, at press
time, most companies denied any sort of affiliation with the PRISM project. For those that argue
PRISM violates our fourth amendment right, the government retorts PRISM is only used to
direct surveillance on foreign individuals. However, the usage of an obscure provision of the
Patriot Act to obtain records of every phone call on Verizons network with a single court order
suggests that the government is willing to adopt permissive interpretations of the law (Lee).

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Amitai Etzioni, author of the book titled How Patriotic is the Patriot Act?, talks about
the many situations in which citizens are willing to sacrifice some of their freedom and privacy
in order to be secure. He goes on to talk about how the US government abuses the fear of their
citizens to extend their power. In particular, Etzioni describes how our government used a tragic
event such as September 11, 2001 as a gateway to extend the power of their oversight of people
and information. He explains that the willingness of citizens to give up some of their rights to
fight terrorism are directly linked to their level of fear. The closer to the tragic event the better it
is for the government to try and get power from its citizens. This power is what often helps our
government be characterized as having so much secrecy, a lack of transparency, rejection of
equality and more importantly it shows an action of removing all of the checks and balances our
country has, in fact a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found the number
of information-security incidents in which personal information was involved has more than
doubled over the last few years (McCutcheon, 2016). In fact, Etzioni brings up a good point
about how it seems that in this country if we want to be able to protect ourselves from terrorism,
then our democracy may be endangered and perhaps in even be lost completely.
9/11 is not the only time our government has used fear as a leverage to get more power.
There have been many other occasions. For example, if we take a look back at World War II our
government used the fear of Japanese people to have a massive detention of all Japanese
Americans in the US -- ignoring the fact that these people were still Americans. Not only were
the rights of these people violated, they lost everything they had -- even their privacy. Another
occasion was during the 1960s, at the time of civil rights movements, where the FBI had spies

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on civil rights activists and peace activists. Now we stand over post 9/11 decisions where some
and most of our freedom has been given up due to fear. Even today, we stand over a
controversial issue of the FBI attempting to use a terrorist attack to make Apple create a
backdoor into everyones iPhone. Etzioni brings up a good point about how more of our rights
will be lost and eventually our government structure will continue to crumble at a rapid pace.
There are some cases in which we need to allow the government to use excessive use of
power; however, we need to have a clear understanding of where too much power is excessive
power. We need to have a defined line which helps us understand what is unacceptable. Like
Etzioni mentions, this will helps us avoid slipping to a place one is not willing or should avoid.
We also need to question ourselves and ask, Under what conditions is democracy undermined?
(Etzioni, 2004).
People do not just feel the need to extend power to their government during a time of
terror, but also during a time of crisis. For example, economic failure of lack of confidence in
their government. We could actually take Germany as an example in which the German people
had little to no confidence of their government and eventually their governmental structure
crumbled and saw a rise to the Nazi government after the defeat of Germany in World War I. As
we all know, the German government created a sense of fear from its authority, which allowed
them to have an excessive amount of power over their citizens. This is not a rare occasion, in
fact, Etzioni mentions that people are likely to support any decisions made by their government
as long as this makes them stronger against any national terrors. Such changes can be seen
currently in every single airport in which we have armed guards and inspection sections. This is

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all to show the people that our movement is doing something useful to keep them safe when, in
fact, its no more than a way for them to reduce the anxiety of their citizens while they spy on
them.
Etzioni helps the reader understand that in times of fear we are the most vulnerable not to
the terrorists themselves, but to our own government. He actually provides us with facts that
support his claims and there is one which shows that immediately after September 11, 2001, six
out ten Americans thought it was necessary to give up some of their rights to fight terrorism;
however, two months after the attack, the number fell from six to five and as time went on the
number kept decreasing. It is important to remember that while there is not a specific right to
privacy, we do have the right to freedom and having privacy allows us to have a better sense of
freedom.
The terrorist acts on 9/11 sparked a serious debate in America on the issue of privacy. As
we all know, after 9/11 the patriot act was instituted and many suspected the government of
using it to circumvent privacy protection laws that prevent them from gathering information on
people without a warrant. Yet, for many years there was no concrete evidence to prove these
suspicions true, until Edward Snowden leaked top secret information that proved the NSA was
gathering information without warrants under the protection of the Patriot act. This pushed many
Americans towards a tougher stance on privacy in an effort to stop the government from
gathering information regardless of whether the information can potentially stop terrorist acts.
Ametai Etzioni wrote about this scenario in his 1999 book, The Limits of Privacy. In it
he discusses how the concept of privacy has evolved in this country and its consequences. Real

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world examples support his personal views on the matter. The book starts by raising ethical
concerns involving privacy such as: Are cameras in daycare facilities or centers for the elderly a
violation of the employee's right to privacy? The book was written pre 9/11 and the writing
reflects this, in one of the questions the author raises he asks Should the FBI be in a position to
crack the encrypted messages employed by terrorist before they use them to orchestrate the next
Oklahoma City bombing? (Etzioni, 1999) Up to this point Oklahoma City was one of the
largest and most horrific acts of terrorism this country had experienced. After the attack there
was no significant debate on the need to allow the Government to access private information of
suspected criminals, since Americans privacy is protected. National anger and outraged after
9/11 created the perfect environment that allowed congress to pass The Patriot Act, which
loosened some restrictions on privacy.
Throughout the book the author tries to apply the social philosophy concept of
communitarian thinking defined as a balance between individual rights and social
responsibilities (Etzioni). The book claims that the majority in America believe privacy is in
danger and that entities such as the ACLU American Civil Liberties Union propagate this
idea. They're attributed with the claim Americans right to privacy is in peril (Etzioni, 1999).
This type of rhetoric is accepted by the public because it preys on their fears. Since this book
was written great advances in digital communication have been made and the ACLU has updated
its claims to keep up with the times, for example their site reads our digital footprint can be
tracked by the government and corporations in ways that were once unthinkable (American

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Civil Liberties Union). This re-enforces the authors claims that such entities push the
government's incursion on privacy with fear.
The fear that the government is ever increasing its disregard for privacy is made evident
by the public health issue of testing infants for HIV without the mothers knowledge or consent,
as a measure to protect infants. New York is one state where mandatory testing of infants is law.
The New York Department of health site states that All newborns in New York State are tested
for HIV antibodies (Testing). The book points out that some view this as an attempt to protect
the most vulnerable in our society, while others see it as an invasion of privacy.
Privacy is a very personal subject, and many people view it in their own way. Though it
is not explicitly stated in the Constitution, U.S. Justice Louis Brandeis called it the right to be
left alone... some amendments provide some protections (Sharp, 2013). As highlighted in the
texts above, our online privacy is constantly at risk and yet we continue to freely shovel out our
personal information. After some research, it was interesting to find that the US is somewhat
more liberal that other parts of the world when it comes to privacy. Like other countries, our
medical and legal documents are privacy protected; however, in other places, such as Europe,
they take more precautionary measures to protect their citizens. As outlined in an article written
by an NBC News correspondent:
Personal information cannot be collected without consumers permission, and they have
the right to review the data and correct inaccuracies.
Companies that process data must register their activities with the government.
Employers cannot read workers private e-mail.

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Personal information cannot be shared by companies or across borders without express
permission from the data subject.
Checkout clerks cannot ask for shoppers phone numbers.
(Sullivan, 2006).
The article goes on the highlight the fact that Europeans trust their government more than we do,
and therefore they put more trust into those who are creating the laws that will protect them. As
the Internet continues to hold more prevalence in our lives, it is only natural that everyone starts
to make more of an effort in protecting their information. Europe has clearly expressed their low
tolerance for a lack of privacy, and has done a far better job in defining privacy rights.
As we look to Asias perspective on privacy, it may be interpreted in a completely
different way. In an article that discusses Asian privacy views, the author claims that the notion
of privacy has not traditionally been valued in China and goes on to explain their radically
different ideas on privacy, such as an open-floor plan in a public restroom (Wenyuan, 2006).
These notions are something that both Europe and US would not recognize or begin to
implement in their society, as we are so set in our private and personal ways. Since the article
was written, Asia has begun to consider Western approaches to online privacy. Furthermore,
privacy in Africa is much more different than any of the other nations listed above. Most African
governments are not concerned with the privacy of their citizens, and are more concerned with
themselves -- which is a corrupted way of governing a people. For example, the Tunisian
government has taken matters into their own hands when it comes to governing their citizens
privacy, and Facebook discovered that the Tunisian government had been using malicious code

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to steal the Facebook passwords of its citizens to delete the accounts of users who had shared
'undesirable' material (Schoeman, 2016). Clearly, privacy is not a priority within their
governments; however, this means that the citizens appreciate their privacy more so than people
of other nations. It is clear to see that privacy can be subjective, and many things can be taken
into account when discussing the matter. The views are privacy are different from all over the
world, but one thing is true -- it is a basic human right that should be respected and considered as
online privacy is becoming a larger issue.

With todays more transparent society due to our mediums of communication, one can
argue that privacy is a relic of a time gone by. In an article discussing the increased connectivity
that the Internet of Things will provide Anthony Miccoli concludes that Our expectations of
connectivity will overcome our attachment to "private" information (Miccoli, 2014). As
consumers and citizens of the United States, we have to decide just how much of our privacy are
we willing to exchange for convenient and intelligent services powered by the Internet as well as
protection by our government. It is critical that we become aware of how exactly our privacy
may be violated every time we register for a new service as well as how our government may
push the boundaries of our birth-given rights in order to protect the interests of the government
and at what cost will the protect our being on a post-9/11 world.

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Work Cited
ACLU Department of Public Education. "Your Right to Privacy." Aclu.org. American Civil
Liberties Union, 2016. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
The article explains the right the privacy and the specifications behind the implicit right
found in other amendments of the Constitution. It goes on to explain the right of privacy
in different aspects of life, such as situations pertaining to the police and while at school.
Gao, George. "What Americans Think about NSA Surveillance, National Security and Privacy."
Pew Research Center RSS. 2015. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.
Amitai Etzoni claims that the concept of privacy has been changing and special interest
groups have made it a hot topic and pushed public opinion of center. This site is an
example of this, the article goes into detail on what public opinion with respect to
privacy. The article emphasizes Americans negative view on the government's incursions
into personal privacy and never provide examples of the opposing view.
Hern, Alex. "OKCupid: We Experiment on Users. Everyone Does." The Guardian.
Guardian News and Media, 29 July 2014. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.
Herns article sheds lights on OKCupids experimentation on users. By analyzing the
trends of users, OKCupid was able to feed their deep learning algorithms to create better
matching trends for its users. Originally, OKCupid did not tell their users that they
collected their information but later on, the company was completely transparent with
their actions.
Ferenstein, Greg. "The Birth And Death Of Privacy: 3,000 Years of History Told Through 46
Images - The Ferenstein Wire." Medium. Medium, 24 Nov. 2015. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.
Ferensteins Medium article gives a view on the history of privacy. The concept of
privacy only started about 150 years given that humans for the past 3000 years have
traded privacy for convenience and wealth. The article showcases privacy through
civilizations such as the Romans, Greeks, Renaissance Europe and finally the modern
era. Technology has paved way for people to reveal intimate details of life through life
and video blogging.
Etzioni, Amitai. How Patriotic Is the Patriot Act?: Freedom versus Security in the Age of
Terrorism. New York: Routledge, 2004. Print.
Etzionis book informs the reader about the different ways in which our government has
tried and has succeeded on taking away more and more of our privacy. He goes on to talk

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about how the government tries to use fear of different events to force the readers to give
away their privacy.
Etzioni, Amitai. The Limits of Privacy. New York: Basic, 1999. Print.
The book explores the ethical issues surrounding personal privacy and the common good.
The author does this by analysing issues in the areas of health and safety. One such issue
involves screening newborns for HIV without the mother's consent. There are groups on
both sides of this issue; Opponents claim it's a violation of privacy of the mother and the
child, Advocates point out the health benefits of early detection for the newborn. The
Analysis contained within the book directly correlates to the topic discussed in the paper.
Lee, Tim. "Heres Everything We Know about PRISM to Date." Washington Post.
The Washington Post, 12 June 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
Lees article expatriates on the the government project PRISM: a surveillance effort to
extract user data from top technological companies such as Google, Facebook, and
Twitter. This massive database gives the government power to keep tabs on citizens
without the knowledge of users. Although the government claims it only uses the
database to track foreigners, there have been cases of the government snooping on United
States citizens.
McCutcheon, Chuck. "Privacy." CQ Researcher 14 July 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
McCutcheons privacy article discusses the new meaning of privacy on the digital age.
With new and intrusive technologies such as email, video conferencing, and social
networks, the privacy of the user is being violated now more than ever. McCutcheon
strongly encourages users to be aware of the services they use and to proceed with
caution when consuming and generating data.
Miccoli, Anthony. "Posthuman Being." : The Internet of Things and the Great Recalibration.
N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
Anthony Maccioli explored how the internet of things will affect personal privacy. Since
the explosion of technology for the general public exploded with the advent of the PC,
Personal privacy has been on a constant decline. He claims that technology is ever
increasing our connectivity to the world we become addicted to it. His final conclusion is
that the internet of things will only increase this connectivity and eventually well have to
choose between privacy and connectivity - and connectivity will persevere.
New York Department of Health. Testing. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

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The New York Department of Health has implemented HIV screening for newborns.
This
site is important because illustrates some of the issues when it comes to personal privacy.
This is a clear example of the what some call an invasion of privacy by the state.
Noble, Jason. "U.S. Debates Security vs. Privacy 12 Years after 9/11."USA Today. Gannett, 11
Sept. 2013. Web. 01 Mar. 2016.
Nobles article talks about the debate over civil liberties and national security which has
emerged after the 12 years of the occurrence of 9/11.
Oreskovic, Alexei. "Google Explains Exactly How It Reads All Your Email."The Huffington
Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 04 Mar. 2014. Web. 01 Mar. 2016.
Oreskovics article explains the exact methods as to how Google reads your email for
advertisement purposes. Users attempted to bring a lawsuit to Google which eventually
was shot down in court given that the users implicitly agreed for their email to be read
when they signed up for the service. Google uses these analytics to provide better search
results, optimized features, and targeted advertisement.
"Privacy & Technology." American Civil Liberties Union. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
In this article the reader is informed about how technological innovation has moved at a
faster rate than our privacy protections.
Tancer, Bill. Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why It Matters. New York:
Hyperion, 2008. Print.
Tancers book digs into the concepts of e-commerce and the data analytics that it brings
to companies. He champions that the internet age has allowed companies to analyze
trends and make smart decisions with such data. In turn, this allows companies to put
forward better products for their customers. These new technologies also allow users to
obtain instant feedback and learn more about themselves.
Schoeman, Albertus. "Africa: Security Versus Privacy in the Online Age." AllAfrica.com.
AllAfrica, 26 Feb. 2016. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.
This article explains the issue of privacy, or lack thereof, in various African
governments. It goes on to explain the corruption of the government that emphasizes
mass surveillance of their citizens, which goes against most privacy basics. It also delves
into the privacy issues in other nations as well.
Sharp, Tim. "Right to Privacy: Constitutional Rights & Privacy Laws." LiveScience. TechMedia

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Network, 12 June 2013. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.
Sharp clearly defines the limitations of privacy within the Constitution, and that the right
to privacy is not explicitly defined. It addresses the online privacy issues, as well as
accessing our private information and who is allowed to do so. It is known that medical
information cannot be shared with anyone other than the patient and the physician
without consent, but the article talks about the reasons why online privacy should be
treated the same.
Sullivan, Bob. "La Difference Is Stark in EU, U.S. Privacy Laws." Msnbc.com. NBCNews, 19
Oct. 2006. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
Sullivans article informs the reader about the difference between a persons privacy in
the US and Europe. He goes into detail on how corporations and the government have to
respect the privacy and data of the people.
Wenyuan, Yao. "The Long March to Privacy." The Economist. N.p., 12 Jan. 2006. Web. 13
Mar.
2016.
Wenyuans article expands on the concept of privacy in China. Traditionally, China has
value of privacy has been virtually non-existent. Its government successfully instilled a
culture of casually sharing the most intimate details of life during casual conversation. In
modern times,