For the final article, I present a buffet of stuff with one connection: intrusion.
Last year I ran across this article HERE on Slate.com. I thought it was pretty interesting from a collegiate standpoint.
Here's the second portion: Techno Buffalo is reporting a town in Leon, Mexico is taking security about 12 steps farther than anyone else. Read about it HERE.
Next, Part 3: Those iPhones and iPads you love are storing a crapload of data about you. Read about it HERE and why they do it HERE.
(Side question: does a liberal media, who loves Apple, have the stones to get tough with Apple over the issue of personal freedoms? Just a thought...)
Increasingly, we are left with less and less privacy. Throw in the TSA keeping scans of our bodies -- and finding them on Google -- and Facebook tracking our every move as well, and what do we have to look forward to in the 21st Century? Do you feel comfortable being watched over? Is this a real concern? Or is the old professor trying to scare you?
Your responses, in 300-500 words, please.
This is the last blog...enjoy your summers, and take care.
-- MP
-- MP
I disagree with the articles shown and think they are over exaggerating this "tracking". I am not one of those people who is afraid someone is watching be at all times, but I am aware that anything that I do on the computer or internet can be tracked at any given point in time. However, this should not be making people fear what the rest of the 20th century has in store for us with this aspect, because honestly the people who have access to your passwords and information probably do not care. Where this does become an issue though is when your personal information gets into the wrong hands like those of a hacker. That is scary because your information is now in possession of some random person. As for the tracking, I could care less if someone is tracking what I am doing online because I have nothing to hide. If I was looking up information that I should not be looking up on the internet I would be a little bit more paranoid.. but I'm not so I really do not care. I actually seek comfort in the fact that our moves are being tracked through technology. If someone was looking up how to make a homemade bomb on the internet or how to plan a mass murder, it would be better to be known before the attack happens. The pro here is that this person can be caught before their plan unfolds and lives are taken. I feel like its a personal opinion about what is too far for technology tracking devices. For the most part, I believe that if you are doing nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about. The tracking devices were created to stop people from doing the things that they should not be doing whether its looking up something online or walking through a security scanner at a store with your jacket loaded with stolen goods. I believe the technology will help limit the amount of crime and keep the bad out, but this can only happen if the tracking is done in a safe and legal way for all users.
ReplyDelete-Kaitlyn Huml
Well, this is a scary topic indeed. I think this should be a real concern to the everybody around the world who lives in a "free country" because our privacy is really all we have. Reading about all of this reminds me of the book 1984 (no privacy, government in complete control of everything that you do) and it scares me. Apple and anybody who could hack into their system could use this information for countless things. Why would anyone need to track our movements except for maybe a runaway kid with a cell phone that the parents are trying to locate? or known criminals I suppose...but that also comes with limitations. If location was used to find criminals I believe it would have to do with what crimes they committed like if they were murderers or something. The eye scanner idea i believe could do some good in say prisons or government buildings/military bases but to be used to cater to advertising or get into bars? I think that is a little bit over the line. I think if people were given the choice, they would vote against having technology like this in most places. I think that technology is becoming too advanced for its own good and sadly people just want the newest and best thing because of the curiosity factor and I think all of these ideas will be put to use probably for the right and wrong reasons.
ReplyDelete-David hacker
Blame me for acting like a Republican, judge me for being a HUGE conspiracy theorist, and send me to the mental hospital, but after reading these articles, I am more on edge than ever. My first basic question: why? Why is this information necessary? Who cares where I am and what I’m doing if I’m not a threat? Does “the land of the free” mean free to live according to the Constitution, except for the whole privacy section?
ReplyDeleteRegarding the DNA testing, I am asking the same question: why? Students who participate don’t get their specific results back, anyway. They pay $99 to have a doctor swab their cheek and never hear results. How does this even make sense? We have plenty of statistics about alcohol and the three genes that they would like to test. Is science really wasting money on seeing how many people have flushed faces after drinking? Forgive me for questioning more than analyzing, but I am outraged! None of this is logically sound.
Foolish Facebook users infuriate me. Why do people download the app that says exactly where they are? If they’re hours from home, and it shows on their page, you can bet someone is going to consider robbing them if they have anything of value. Personally, I hate using a cell phone. I don’t like ANYTHING have authority over me. If I want someone to know where I am, I should be able to tell them freely without opening up myself to a world of possible dangers.
Stated plainly, Apple is stupid. Don’t track my device. If it’s lost- replace it. So you lose some money; at least I keep some dignity. Losing it won’t matter if there isn’t any personal information saved on it. I’ll admit, there are several holes to this theory, but really, Apple. Do you need to track EVERYWHERE I go every day of my life? Quit breathing down my neck, Big Brother.
The retina scanning is absurd. Some things are just too far, like the airport security machines that scan images of human bodies and aren’t disposed immediately. Can you really convince me that having naked images of me on Google is going to somehow benefit me? How is this lawful? How is this even justifiable? I can’t stand advertisements being targeted at me on Facebook because I know it means my information is being searched. Having my eyes being scanned everywhere means never having the liberty of just simply living and being without having to worry about someone finding me, especially for unlawful reasons. If this happens, the government will have control of everything, and there would be no stopping them. With all that information, where would you hide?
On a side note, go type your name into Google. Looks like they own your Facebook profile picture. Charming.
-Katelyn Stouffer
I think that all of this technology is extremely invasive and the technology companies need to make their devices more secure for the average American. If these devices are too easy to get into alot of people are going to try to steal our information but if our personally devices are secure enough I doubt their is someone out there that cares enough to relay want into and average person’s smartphone if it is too difficult. On the other side the people that use smartphones and Ipads want all the services such as mobile internet access and the gps. The people that own these devices should know what they are getting themselves into It is also your responsibility to password protect your devices. Granted that some of the password protection is easily bypassed when you plug the device into a computer this is why the companies that make these products should make them more secure and password dependent incase the device is stolen. The pros of these phones or tablets should outweigh the cons but the lack of security is a pretty big con for the ability to have the internet in the park. I personally think that these devices make us too accessible I sometimes get annoyed with having a basic cellphone with talk and text. The retina scanning is way to invasive and unnecessary I think that we already have enough security measures for our transportation. The full body scan is more than enough. As long as someone is not planing on committing a crime and has no weapons they should not be hassled by the TSA just for a crime they committed in the past. And if they do start to use this technology it should only be used for suspicious people and not used to scan random people as they pass by.
ReplyDeleteI think these articles are ridiculous and scary. It really is true that you can't have privacy anymore. I don't understand why these companies feel the need to do this. Before they had never heard or even seen such a thing, now everyone is worried and upset about it. Do they really care about what one person is doing? If they are located at the mall or at home? It just doesn't make any sense to me. It makes me think there is something else going on. Something alot more important that Apple is releasing in there little letter they wrote. Sometimes I just wish things would go back to the old days and then things might be better off. Not worrying about gas prices everyday, not being in a bad ecomony, not having people track cell phones and computers, pictures and body scans not being shared all over the web etc. It just really makes me mad that United States is turning into something we aren't supposed to be thought of. Yet it surprises me still of how many people are fighting to come into this country and to what? Put up with all of this stuff. I even thought about getting an Iphone, but now that I heard this story. There is no way I will get one. I like my privacy and don't want people watching over me and hunting me down. I think this is a big concern and some actions should be taken right away. I feel like the whole economy and everything else is just taking a big turn for the worst. I think there are going to be very bad consequences for these inmature ideas people are coming up with and have been away with it for who knows how long. It's no wonder we have so many problems these days. It's like people don't know what to do with themselves anymore and they just find ways to make others feel the same as they do. Sure, this might have been a "problem" and someone just didn't fix it at Apple, but why didn't they? This company makes billions and billions of dollars, they should of did something. I think there are more things going on in the United States that many people are not hearing about and are kept hush hush. One day everything will come out and pay will pay for it they way I see it. I know I value my privacy and will not be using those devices that are said to be "tracked" and kept an eye on.
ReplyDeleteI am sad to say that I am not at all shocked by my privacy being totally eliminated. Growing up in the technology era, I have already heard rumors about government officials and others listening in on your calls and reading your texts and emails that are sent to your cell phone. However, it is a little upsetting to me, being that I am an Apple user, that iPhones and iPads are regularly collecting location data. Since I have an iPhone, I do not want my physical coordinates publicized or stored anywhere. I absolutely do not want Apple or any other company or person using them for god knows what behind the scenes. According to the site you provided, this information tells where I’ve been, where I might go, and what I might buy when I get there. Does this sound sketchy or is it just me? After reading over the article posted on the Fox News website, I quickly went into my iPhone’s settings and turned my location services off.
ReplyDeleteAs if the TSA scans being broadcasted all over the internet wasn’t bad enough, Facebook tracks everything we do as well. I know Professor Parsons mentioned that but it is true. I have always felt that Facebook knew my interests some way. The ads that pop up on the right are different if I log into my mother’s account or roommate’s account. It’s like Facebook follows me, instead of me following it.
With all of this being said, I just do not feel comfortable being watched over. What can you do about it though? I feel like if the government or companies want to keep a close eye on something secretly, they will find a way to make it happen. This does not mean that this situation should be ignored. More people just need to wake up and complain about it.
After reading these articles I guess it never occurred to me how much privacy has gone out the window these days. All of these situations would have been unheard of not too long ago and to me they seem a little ridiculous. I understand the idea of a body scanner in airports and accept that to a certain extent but a retina scanner? I believe sounds a little sketchy and a little too much security. It might seem nice and convenient to some to not have to show id at the bar or not have to show your credit card at the store but I think it is a little too far. Also after reading the article about DNA samples I was really shocked. First of all I did not even think that universities would even bring up the idea to do DNA testing on teens let alone people who are not even involved with that type of program for their major. I could understand if students wanted to do DNA testing for a project or assignment for a class but anything other than that seems a little strange. Personally I would not want to be an incoming freshman and find out that I am to give a DNA sample along with all the freshmen instead of reading a summer book or doing some other type of assignment. I feel that is a major invasion of privacy and although they throw the sample away after I would still feel a little violated. As for the location information on iphones I also feel it is going a little too far. I believe it is good that you can turn the location detector off so that this information will not be recorded but if people did not know how to turn it off or no one told them about it they would be stuck with their location information being taken by the company and unprotected. I do not have an iphone so I do not really need to worry about this situation but if that were to happen with my phone I would be a little upset. Overall I believe all of these articles sum up that our world is becoming less and less private every day. From social networking to identity theft on the rise, privacy issues seem to be never-ending.
ReplyDeleteLast weekend when I was shopping with my boyfriend, my cell phone rang with consecutive 5 instant massages unheard by me. They are sent by Chasebank.com, asking me if I want to continue the transaction which had already added up to $ 190. Having remembered that I didn’t buy anything worth that much, I quickly logged in the online account, and I discovered that someone in faraway Greek has stolen my Skype account and email through which I originally registered. I was totally stunt for I never experienced such an unfortunate accident. My boyfriend helped me freeze the bank account and the PayPal to minimize the damage. I am still feeling unsafe thinking about the moment I try to contact with the Skype’s headquarter, which was located in Luxemburg in Europe, to get back the email address, but it turned out that the cheap, convenient website is in the charge of anonymous people who are only responsible for sending emails.
ReplyDeleteWhile optimists think that giving out more information can help them such as specifically DNA treatment, catching the felony through retina scanning, and locating the nearest restaurant for dinner, pessimists would consider these tools otherwise—privacy is going unprotected, personal information going exposed, and life and money and reputation irreversibly damaged. Facebook is such a sad chapter for those children who cannot handle them properly. Showing off your latest clothes, pose with the boyfriend/girlfriend with the cute sexy smiles, and even their relationship. I saw the news about a boy being killed because of the rumor maliciously spread by his pals. Children are so vulnerable and innocent that I don’t wanna see them as victims of the intruders online.
I have to ask who will benefit from stealing the personal information. To me the answer would be the huge companies of medicine, technology, and damn intelligent hackers etc. It is the money that matters, not for the benefit of the customers. Topics on monitoring, communications and control of private information can be so controversial today. Political agenda is dealing more and more on these. Economic perspective is focused on the efficiency and availability of resources while safety perspective is focused on individual’s privacy protection.
To answer the initial question, I do not feel comfortable being watched over. I feel like Tom Cruise in the movie "Minority Report". And let me tell you, that doesn't feel good. (In case you haven't seen Minority Report, it's about a dystopian future where crime is prevented by someone who can foresee it before it can happen, and they use retinal scanners to identify everyone.)Living in the near dystopian future can't feel too good, getting your eyes scanned everywhere you go, and constantly being tracked by your phone seem pretty invasive to me. The use of retinal scans to identify people seems ridiculous and a little to "Big Brother" for me. The fact that advertisements could potentially use this scan your eyes and instantly tailor their ads to your interests annoys me, just as much as the majority of advertisements annoy me. As for the genetic testing, it seems like it could be a good idea to be able to test for future diseases, but something about the idea makes me wonder what the data could also be used for. The conspiracy theorist inside me is paranoid, and doesn't know what to think of this. I could only see this testing as a positive if it were used for good. It seems that little by little people are losing their privacy, and there are no more mysteries to life. The location data collection on the Iphone is a little disturbing, and it makes me wonder just how bad things could be if a hacker were to gain access to my information. As it stands now, I am not too worried what a hacker would gain from daily locations, but I still do not like the fact that they could possibly retrieve it. Maybe we have crossed the line with technology, and maybe there comes a time where we need to step back and realize when enough is enough. I certainly think scanning my retinas for special advertisements is too much. And I don't want to have to end up like Tom Cruise in "Minority Report" and have to get an eye transplant to avoid them.
ReplyDelete=m. labyk
To start, I will go with the most alarming article that I read. The retina scanning is by far the most alarming article that I read. The reason behind me feeling like this is that I do not feel like it is right for someone to be able to know pretty much my entire life story just by a simple scan of my retina. The only place that I would ever really see retina scanning as being an advantage would be at an airport. At an airport, security would be able to tell who would be the most prone to being a dangerous traveler. The completely ridiculous part of the retina scanning would be to tailor ads to a person by being able to tell what they like to buy or where they most often travel. To be able to tailor the ads that are being presented to a person would just be ridiculous because if I really wanted to buy a product I would. I have probably already seen a million ads for it between the internet and the television. The ability of the iPhone and iPad devices to track where people have been is something that I am not all too concerned about. The reason for this being is that if someone really wanted to know where I frequently go they could probably figure out pretty quickly through the different social networks that this generation has. As long as hackers are unable to access important information such as credit card numbers and social security numbers I do not really see a reason to be alarmed. The issue that I'm least worried about would be the saliva swabbing. The reason for this is because it is completely optional to the students. They simply do not have to do it if they do not want to, and on top of this the universities are making the information anonymous. All of these are adding up to an over-alarmed society. Until the day when we see the start to Aldous Huxley's 1984 society then I do not really see a reason to be too alarmed. After all, there have already been how many rumors saying that the government is listening to our phone calls and reading our text messages and emails, but people are continuing to just go on as if they could not care less.
ReplyDeleteThis is definately a scary idea; having the government watch your every move. Our personal privacy is constantly being invaded but who is to blame? With technology constantly advancing, obviously tracking and watching our internet activity becomes easier and easier, however; we, as internet users, should be aware that every thing we post on the internet, being an e-mail or a picture, is there forever, and can be accessed by anyone who knows how to work a computer. It's our responsibility to acknowledge this fact and act accordingly. If we are doing things that need to be hidden, maybe we deserve to get caught, we should be able to monitor our own internet usage. If we don’t want anyone to what we’re doing online, then maybe we shouldn’t be doing it. After all, the main purpose of using technology to track people is to protect the community. We had an issue at my high school with facebook and its privacy. There were a group of seniors who put up pictures from a party with them drinking beer. My high school said it made the school look bad as well as themselves and the girls got suspended. It all goes back to the fact that if we didn’t want people to see the pictures, then don’t post them. We have complete control over the situation. However the fact does remain that there is no reason to store information about you like where you've been and frequent places you visit if you are not a threat to the community. It's a waste of space on any software, and i feel there are only cons for this idea. Any person could easily access any of this information stalk or hurt the person. It's a scary concept and I personally am not okay with all the information being kept about me. The information is too easy to access to keep anyone safe. It's too much knowledge for anyone to hold and there is no way for the users to stop this.
ReplyDeleteI believe this issue is a real concern that people should be worried about. This is truly an invasion of privacy that most people don't seem to notice or care about. They would rather keep their eyes on their fancy phones, or on facebook then think about what thats entitles. The scariest part about this to me is not that someone could steal an iphone and hunt you down, but more that they are backing up information about people. They could say it was for whatever reason they wanted, but it still is omonious and a real invasion of privacy.
ReplyDeleteThe other article about swabbing for DNA doesn't even really make sense to me either. Telling students whether they have a flush gene, and making incoming freshman do DNA scan sounds like a bad idea. ANyone can go and get that testing done if they want information, but forcing gene studies on students without really expaining motives is something we shouldn't have to agree to. Once again, the strangest part of this im my mind , is what is the real reason for all of this?
The retina scanning is perhaps the most horrible of these ideas. That idea truly is giving up your personal freedoms. They can say it is for convenience, but truly that is the picture of being a number in a system. We already have enough personal freedoms taken away, and I hope people don't overlook it and not think about what that really means for the direction our future is heading. People need to start waking up, looking around them, asking questions, and getting answers before they're personal freedoms were taken away while they were busy staring at facebook on their iphones.
These articles were pretty creepy. I don't want someone to know where I am, where I've been or possible where I'm going. That's weird. It's invasion of privacy. But I don't really think that they are doing that. And if they are then why? I think that is just too weird that they are doing this and putting things into phones that are like tracking devices. I don't like the thought of that. If I wanted someone to know where I was or where I was going I would tell them, and I do tell the people that I want to know.
ReplyDeleteThe whole eye scanning thing in Mexico was pretty cool. You won't have to carry around anything, you can just scan your eyes and you can pay or get into your house or even start your car. That would be pretty cool if they do that. But I don't get why you would be so lazy not to open a door to your house or pull out your money to pay for something from a store. I can understand using it for security purposes but not so much for everyday things. That's a bit too much. The only people that should be using that should be the police and other officials to catch criminals or make sure that criminals aren't trying to go somewhere they shouldn't be.
Our world is becoming more and more advanced in technology which is pretty cool, but it can also lead to invasion of privacy which is not cool. I think this technology would be cool, but only in small amounts.
In this time that were in right now, technology is a very large part of how we live. It is not really a surprise to me that we are dealing with this now. These companies are tracking us because they want to know what really makes us tick, and what we will buy to make them more money. We are at the age of consumers, and we love doing it. Whether its electronics or something else, society has been caught in this loop of buying. People are going in debt because they feel like they need to keep up with everyone or jump on the band wagon. I mean with cell phones, yes they have tracking capabilities on them, but I am sure those have been helpful in the past. My thing is with all these new things out, as a consumer, you have to be aware that these things can happen. These people are in this industry to make us happy, and they will figure out every little thing that makes up happy and will do it. Americans loving buying the newest and shiniest gadgets, so from a marketing stand point, why would not they try to collect data. I mean you could say you didnt know about anything, but who honestly always reads the fine print in contracts, people could be signing their lives away and not even be aware of it.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the articles, I don’t believe that we need to get our eyes scanned as we go through an airport, or our Dan taken for testing, and last we don’t need to be tracked everywhere we go. With the eye scanner they can be good and they can be bad, the eye scanner could pick up criminal trying to leave the country or even pick up terrorist trying to cause another attack like September 11. But if they use the eye scanner I want it tested somewhere else before it is put in a public place, because what if it’s found out it messes up your eyes or even causes some blindness I just think over all that ideas just going to need a lot of test. I don’t think that school should be taking DNA or Sylva test because that’s just a violation of privacy and I don’t know something just seems off about that situation. I believe that DNA should only be collect from criminal, but I guess you could make the point that if DNA was collected from everyone that it would be a lot easier to solve crimes. And last as for my opinion on apple tracking everyone I think that was wrong, I think they should send out individual warning stating how to get rid of the tracker and they should make people more aware on why they have it instead of just trying to sneak it buy us, I think someone should challenge Apple and just make it know that what they did was wrong. Over all I think that the advancement in technology is moving at a fast rate and issues like the one with apple is going to be more and more noticed because eventually every electronic is going to tracked.
ReplyDelete-Stephen Streets
I do think that the liberal media does let MAC off the hook when it comes to questioning or criticizing what they do and their product. And I don’t agree with it, but this once again is a part of journalist bias. I think that advancing technology at the cost of privacy is something that should concern all of us, but mostly concerns members of society who are older. Mostly because we have been raised with technology and to most of us putting our information out for everyone to see is so common and a daily act. People post statuses on Facebook and Tweet their location and what they ate for breakfast. We have lost a sense of privacy and because of this I feel like most don’t even notice or care that the technology they are using is collecting information about them, that can be accessed and sold. That includes your phones, and a part of that is your text. Even if you delete them from your phone there are still copies of your text stored through your cell phone company. People see the use for catching criminals and “national security” but can everyone honestly believe that it is going to stop there? Or that they themselves are somehow except from this? Because it’s not just criminals that are having their information stored and even if you are not a threat you are still a part of what should be a problem but what has become so common place people do not see it that way. I would also like to mention at the risk of sounding paranoid, that there’s a reason why the Patriot Act is called the Patriot Act. Everyone wants to be a patriot so they agree with what it says, because if they don’t wouldn’t that make them unpatriotic or even worse a terrorist? To go along with this statement I would like to leave you all with a quote by Thomas Jefferson, "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
ReplyDelete10 Having an iPhone myself, as well as a Facebook page, and a Twitter account, I’m not someone who is paranoid over my privacy. I am safe about my personal information and know what to share and what not to. Myself not being a criminal, with no intentions to ever be, I really have no problem with my location being tracked. I feel these articles were a bit over reacted and written cynically. People do have control over what information is tracked and what is not on their iPhones, and I honestly believe that aside from being able to improve the smartphone and tablet experience for the consumer, Apple doesn’t have any sketchy hidden agenda regarding our location information. I think the only reason someone would really be concerned about a retina scan that could alert the employees someone was previously caught shoplifting, was if they had plans to shoplift. If they hadn’t shoplifted in the first place they would never come up flagged in the system. Having retina scanners in an airport would really improve airport security, maybe even cut down on the dreaded lines, and help law enforcement agencies capture wanted felons. With all that said, I would only be remotely close to comfortable with having my location tracked if the data was kept extremely secure. Who even knows what could happen with this information in the wrong hands. I think there should be heavier laws in place regarding private information and companies should be pressured to keep it secure. As far as the DNA article, I wouldn’t volunteer my DNA for the project, but because it is voluntary, I don’t really have a problem with it. It’s the individuals own decision to give their DNA.
ReplyDelete-DylanPalchesko
I’m not to alarmed by this topic. I feel no shame in what I do everyday that I would get upset over other people knowing about all of it. The only thing that would bother me with this is if the people who have this power whether it be apple or whoever abuse this power and use their tracking device and policy contracts to damage the person they are tracking. However it seems to me that these companies like apple aren’t using it for that purpose I feel like them and the government are using these technologies to protect the users of the software and the general public of the world. I know that all of this does leave the general public with less and less privacy. Throw in the TSA keeping scans of our bodies -- and finding them on Google -- and Facebook tracking our every move as well, and what do we have to look forward to in the 21st Century? I think we have more security to look forward to in the 21st Century. I believe that The people in charge of this technology would only use it exploit someone using their privacy to do something damaging to other people. For instance if someone was planning on committing a crime and it was leaked out through this technology they could stop the crime from happening in the first place. I understand that some people are very private but in today’s day and age there are so many potential dangers out there that we have to use everything we can to make sure that everyone in society is safe even if that means tracking peoples every move. Long story short if you don’t have anything to hide you shouldn’t be bothered by this you should just own up to whatever it is that you are hiding.
ReplyDelete