Privacy, Online and Off

Flock cameras are becoming more abundant and track people's every daily move. 

In class on September 10th, we watched two TED talks and discussed online privacy and how it is changing for the worst.

One of the most eye-opening lessons from the videos and lecture was how surveillance has become a normal part of daily life. Whether it comes from government agencies or private companies, huge amounts of information are being collected about us every day without our knowledge of it.

Law enforcements, such as police and the FBI, now have access to technologies that can track people's movements in ways that would have seemed impossible a generation ago. Automatic license plate readers record the locations of vehicles, while cell tower dumps and Stingray devices can identify and track phones. When these records are combined into large databases, they create detailed pictures of where people go, who they interact with, and what activities they participate in.

Automatic license plate readers (ALPRs)

This is an enormous breech of citizens' personal privacy, and most people don't even realize that it's happening. 

At the same time, private companies collect vast amounts of personal information. Search histories, browsing habits, purchases, social media activity, and even health-related information can be gathered and analyzed. This alone violates HIPAA laws, which were put in place to protect our medical privacy in the first place.

Our in-class lecture compared this process to building a "digital dossier." A single piece of information may not seem important, but thousands of data points combined can reveal a person's beliefs, interests, emotional state, and behavior patterns with surprising accuracy.

What concerned me the greatest was the idea that most of this information is collected through everyday activities. Using a smartphone, browsing the internet, accepting a terms-of-service agreement, or speaking near a smart device like an Amazon Echo, or "Alexa," can contribute to a growing digital profile that the government has access to whenever they want.

Amazon Echo's are always listening to you.

These issues affect me, my friends, and my family because our personal information often feels less
private than we assume. Everything from social media posts to online purchases can become part of a permanent digital footprint. Information that seems insignificant today may later influence how advertisers, companies, schools, or employers view us.

Thankfully, there are some steps that individuals can take to protect themselves. 

Practicing good digital hygiene, deleting cookies, clearing browser histories, being careful about what is posted online, and critically thinking before accepting data-sharing agreements can all reduce your privacy risks, and will probably help you sleep better at night.

Disclaimer: Microsoft Copilot was used to form this blog post. I took extensive and detailed notes during the TED Talks and lecture, and submitted them to Copilot to help turn said notes into a blog post with no outside supplemental research.

8 Values of Free Expression

The eight values of free expression show why the First Amendment is so crucial.

After carefully considering all eight values of free expression, I think that the two that stood out most to me were Promote Innovation and Individual Self-Fulfillment, also known as self-actualization.

The concept of "Promote Innovation" was introduced by Dr. Jack M. Balkin, who is an American legal scholar and professor at Yale Law School. Balkin first discusses "Promote Innovation" in his book Living Originalism, published in 2011. He argues that society needs free speech in order to foster a creative and diverse community.

Dr. Jack M. Balkin

In my opinion, I feel that this is the most important value of free expression.

If we as a society did not have free speech, especially in public spaces, there would be no differing opinions, no criticisms of our government or legal system, and everyone would have uniform beliefs because they would be forced to.

The reason that our forefathers even wrote the First Amendment is because they wanted our country to be a democracy. This means that everyone is allowed to have their own opinions and critiques about the government, and should be able to do so without punishment.

Through this value of promoting innovation, Dr. Balkin emphasized that one of the most important parts of the First Amendment and the ability to have free speech is so that everyone can express themselves in a fulfilling and creative way.

I think that this is part of what makes posting on social media so special. People are able to share their opinions and talk about criticisms, both positive and negative, that they might have in a creative and enjoyable way. A topical example of this is the more recent positive feedback that Zohran Mamdani, the current New York City mayor, has received from residents. Many New Yorkers have taken to TikTok in particular to point out common problems around the city that Mamdani has created solutions for.

@arthurlarin Normal person = good policy? Seriously tho, on top of being a person, @Zohran Mamdani ♬ original sound - Arthur 

The concept of "Individual Self-Fulfillment," or self-actualization, came from C. Edwin Baker, who was a constitutional law scholar and professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He first introduced "Individual Self-Fulfillment" in his 1989 book Human Liberty and the Freedom of Speech. He emphasized that "the primary justification for freedom of expression rests on protecting individual human liberty (Hudson Jr., 2009)."

C. Edwin Baker's book, published in 1989

This idea really stood out to me when I learned about it, and I think that it goes hand in hand with Balkin's concept of promoting innovation.

One of the most sacred things about having free speech in a country is the fact that everyone has their own beliefs and personalities. If everyone thought the same way and had the same opinions, there would be no excitement or enjoyment in conversing with one another.

I believe that the First Amendment is one of our country's most valuable assets. Without the freedom of speech, there would be no creativity, free expression, or criticisms of our government, which is quite possibly the most important freedom that we can have. In fact, I would not have even been able to publish this very blog without our freedom of speech. That fact alone serves as a reminder that protecting our First Amendment right is so crucial.