Module 3.2 - Privacy

 Privacy

"We help make the Internet safer for everyone." - Google

"Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say." - Edward Snowden

CCTV-camera.jpg

Labeled for noncommercial reuse 1

 

Laptop Consider These Two Points of View

Derek.png Derek
36 years old, holds a Master of Science in Finance. Married, father of two. Derek is not concerned about privacy. He says, "Look at what I get from Google, they store my photos for free. After a trip, they create a photo album of all the places I've been. I love it! I don't care if they are following me around, they are just making my life better! The ads I see online are exactly what I want to see, and it saves me time. They know what I want to buy! Why would I care or try to stop that? I'm not so important that I need to protect my privacy or hide from them. I don't have any secrets."
Jennifer.png Jennifer
42 years old, holds a Master of Science in Nursing. Married, mother of two. Jennifer is concerned about privacy. She says, "It bothers me that companies are collecting my data and following me around on the Internet and everywhere I go with cellular data." She adds, "what if these companies get hacked? Who gets my personal information then?" She says, "I find it a bit creepy when I look up something on Amazon, then I see adds for that everywhere else I go on the Internet." She also stated, "I gave up Facebook, because [among other things] I feel like there's privacy issues there too. They are always changing their privacy settings, I don't like their facial-recognition software, and I hate when people post pictures of my children."

 

question mark The "Right" to Privacy?

The Right to Privacy isn't specifically mentioned in the Constitution, but it is implied.2 Because of this, drawing clear lines and defining an American's right to privacy is complicated.

Many people use Derek's argument, known as the "nothing to hide" argument,3 to justify their point of view. Derek also recognizes that he is getting a benefit from companies for their "free" services, his personal data, but that doesn't bother him.

Jennifer, on the other hand, is uncomfortable with this trade-off. She wishes for more control over her privacy and has taken steps, like quitting Facebook.

 

question mark What is Your Comfort Level?

Google is just one company, but here is what they collect about you:4

  • Name
  • Email address and password
  • Birthday
  • Gender
  • Phone number
  • Country
  • Things you search for
  • Websites you visit
  • Videos you watch
  • Ads you click on or tap
  • Your location
  • Device information
  • IP address and cookie data
  • Emails you send and receive on Gmail
  • Contacts you add
  • Calendar events
  • Photos and videos you upload
  • Docs, Sheets, and Slides on Drive


 For more information about Google's data collection, read this article Links to an external site. from CNN tech.

 

1 CCTV Cameras. Labeled for non-commercial re-use. http://newsfirst.lk/english/2017/07/steps-taken-install-cctv-cameras-garbage-dumped-areas/170768 Links to an external site. Accessed 10/27/2017
2 "Privacy - Legal Information Institute." https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/privacy Links to an external site.. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017.
3 "Nothing to hide argument - Wikipedia." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_to_hide_argument Links to an external site.. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017.
4 "Data Collection | How Google uses your personal ... - Google Privacy." https://privacy.google.com/your-data.html Links to an external site.. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017.