Government Invading Our Privacy

  

As crazy as it may sound, the government is certainly watching everything we do. After watching one of Andy Yen's Ted Talks, I  realized how much they have on us. The government is always watching every move we take physically or what we do on the internet. I don't know about you, but I have come across dozens of advertisements and messages across any social media platform on my phone that pop up that I have either spoken about or looked up and immediately come up because they are tracking and gathering my search history to see what I would like and click on next. I have noticed that this has been a big issue, especially recently that has been occurring quite often. Not only is the government collecting data from individuals, but cops and detectives are on it too, and watch what people do. This can be very dangerous and is truly invading our privacy. 

According to an article by Jennifer Valentino- Devries, which took place in Phoenix, Arizona where detectives arrested a worker because of a murder case in town and they did so by tracking his phone. They took a step even further and made Google give them information on all devices from the man they arrested. They were successful and captured all the necessary information needed to close the case. This case itself is shocking that we live in a world where we don't have privacy over our phones. We are no longer safe.   

To change this, I believe we should protect ourselves from invasions of our privacy by periodically deleting or shutting down our phones and other devices that the government could be tracking at any time. That way, there is no connection between people's data and the government trying to take that away.  Another huge issue in how the government watches people is their location. Just by a person's location, you can find everything. Our locations benefit the government when they have to find criminals without people even knowing. In a way, it is a good system to find people but we have cops and careers for that reason where that is solely their job so that should not be needed. We need to protect ourselves before the government tries anything else to own us.

These issues certainly do affect me because I never know who is watching me or watching what I am doing on the internet. I want to feel comfortable and safe while I am on the internet, but in this case, I truly do not feel that way. I believe that we should have some privacy in our lives, and technology should be a big factor in that. Unfortunately, technology is so powerful these days and will only become stronger as the years go on. If I am on the internet, I want to ensure that my private information is secured, not having the government or anyone listening or seeing what I'm doing. One way to prevent this issue regarding the government is stopping all unauthorized information of people's privacy to any departments or major companies. They have too much control over people which needs to be stabilized somehow. I understand that this is a way to catch people who are not doing the right thing as another way of helping detectives, however, it is invading people's privacy to such an extent that needs to be stopped.