Information Age Has Created Privacy Problems for All Citizens Term Paper

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Privacy in the Information Age

Privacy has never been as problematic an issue as it has been as a result of the information age. Because of lightning fast developments in information systems and technology, the mere use of a password has long ceased to be sufficient to ensure privacy when using the computer. Similarly information systems are used for surveillance of citizens while on any expedition outside of their home, from shopping to vacations. A combination of satellite and computer technology thus creates a large amount of privacy problems rather than providing the security they are promoted for.

According to Hoffman and Carreiro (1997), the right to privacy entails the right to be left alone. This right includes the right to freedom from intrusive actions such as wiretapping, unnecessary surveillance and mail interception. In the information age this right has to be respected in terms of computer technology as well. Recently for example there has been a claim to the right to keep the history folder of Internet sites visited confidential.

The problem in this case is that the information age has spawned a very wide variety of privacy issues, which raise concerns in citizens. In order to deal with this problem, Hoffman and Carreiro (1997) suggest a more precise definition of privacy as concerns the Internet. The concepts of accountability and anonymity play a primary role in this definition.

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The decision to provide private information, argue the authors, lies with the Internet user. In online business transactions for example it is often the user's choice whether to give out personal information such as full names and telephone numbers. Credit card numbers are encrypted by the company, and secured in this way. Technology is thus sufficiently developed to allow the user a choice of the degree of privacy, and some do choose to provide more information than others. Whether this is enough, is questionable. Indeed, the user should be aware of the dangers involved in willingly submitting information to the Internet.

Electronic surveillance is one of the issues related to the privacy problem of the information age (Smith, 1994). Actions previously requiring a large amount of manpower and time, has been made far easier by technology. Records of any part of life, including credit card information, immigration records and telephone bills can be accessed within seconds. People's lives can then be monitored, illicitly or otherwise, without the persons in question being aware of it. This is all the result of information willingly submitted either directly to the Internet or to parties using Internet databases. This, according to Smith (1994), rather than communication interception, is the root of the privacy problem. This problem can be resolved by educating….....

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