Gianni RuotoloEssay #3

Computer mediated communications have increased the number of opportunities for

people’s privacy to be infringed. As the different types of communications between people have

primarily shifted to CMCs our privacy has been compromised due to the nature of the new media

of communications and governments manipulating the intended use of CMCs to defend their

established institutions.

Before understanding how CMCs threatens privacy, it is important to identify what

privacy is. In Kootz’s book, she states privacy means many things “ranging from freedom of

thought, to solitude in one’s home, to protection from unlawful searches and seizures.” She

concludes that “nobody can articulate what it means.” However, Westin claims that privacy is,

“the claim of individuals to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information

about them is communicated to others” or “temporary withdrawal from society to solitude.”(Class

24) Regardless of whether a solid definition can be stated, privacy is basically the right to be left

alone and is a necessity to living in a society. When people are deprived of privacy, “let alone the

reality, of being watched results in feelings of low self-esteem, depression and anxiety.”(Murphy)

CMCs mislead people into thinking their conversations are completely private. On

privacyrights.org they explain several ways your privacy is being threatened on CMCs. When

explaining the dangers of search engines they said “They can record your IP address, the search

terms you used, the time of your search, and other information.” They also explain that when you

send emails that your privacy is also being invaded and explain, “You might also be giving

information to any number of people, including your employer, the government, [or] your e-mail

provider.” CMC has opened the door for, “Identity thieves, scam artists, debt collectors, stalkers,

and corporations looking for a market advantage… using social networks to gather information

about consumers” to infringe on people’s privacy. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook gave speech

addressing online privacy. When describing the competitors business plans Cook said that,

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“They’re gobbling up everything they can learn about you and trying to monetize it.”(Panzarino)

Cook describes that it is not worth giving up your information to a competitors company or the

government to obtain a service. Cook explains that giving up information that many other CMCs

have done is infringing your privacy and allowing the government to have access to all the

information “could have a ‘chilling effect’ on our First Amendment rights.”

CMCs have made it easier for governments to infringe on its citizens privacy. Many

people believe that we must make tradeoffs between privacy and security in America so

institutions like the NSA are used to infringe on American citizen’s privacy. Similarly, repressive

regimes will infringe on their citizen’s privacy to control the masses and maintain power. Now

everyone’s information is online and circulating. Institutions like the NSA have “records of

millions of US citizens… being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether

they are suspected of any wrongdoing.”(Class 27) They are infringing on people’s privacy by

collecting “Phone metadata…such as ‘originating and terminating number, the duration of each

call, telephone calling card numbers… and …might also include location data for the nearest cell

tower” (class 27) Oppressive regimes will use the information they find through CMC that helped

organize the protests to also help shut it down more effectively. Common responses that the

oppressive regimes can take are “censorship, propaganda, & ability to cut off internet and uses of

force.” (Class 30) CMCs have made it easier for governments to restrict free speech and keep an

eye on its citizens which as a result heavily threatens privacy.

People’s privacy is threatened by CMCs because more of their valuable information is

online. Anything can be found out about a person ranging from their address to their salary. CMC

threatens privacy by taking it out of the user’s hands. People’s privacy is violated over CMC by

many different entities whether they are an oppressive government, an identity thief, or a

marketing company. Many users are unaware of their surveillance due to the nature of CMC and

as a result lose their privacy. Therefore people should be weary of who might be watching them

online and participate in deciding legislation in countries about online privacy in the future.

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