Blog Post #7: Privacy

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 The TedTalk by Christopher Soghoian highlighted that our telephones and the networks that carry our calls were initially wired for surveillance, which is a chilling thought since a majority of the population uses their telephone every day. Therefore, the issue of privacy affects everyone because of the electronic footprint left behind when using a device. Furthermore, the TedTalk by Juan Enriquez compared popular platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Yelp to tattoos in terms of all the information posted is as permanent as a tattoo. To further elaborate on this point, Enriquez mentions the story of Atalanta and Hippomenes. Atalanta was the fastest runner, which led to a deal against the people who challenged her in a race. The challenge was that anyone who won against her could marry her. However, if you lost, you would have to die. So Hippomenes took himself upon that challenge but won because he distracted her by throwing golden apples on the ground. The story's purpose is to avoid the urge/distraction, represented by the golden apples, to post a late-night message that is not thought through because it is permanent just like a tattoo and can have repercussions.

    In the TedTalk by Christopher Soghoian, he mentioned how the British Prime Minister David Cameron believes all texts, emails, voice calls should be available to the government. However, it would be an abuse of power if politicians could access that information. Instead, the government should assist networks to be as secure as possible by funding those efforts because it can be an issue of national security. For example, in 2009, the Chinese government compromised Google and Microsoft's surveillance systems, which leaked numerous personal information. The measures that can be taken to protect ourselves from invasions of privacy would be to research and use applications that are difficult to wiretap. In the videos, it was mentioned that texts and calls in-between iPhones are extremely difficult to wiretap as well as the application Whatsapp. 


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