Introduction
Privacy is one of the main issues of concern in the current society where technology has become highly sophisticated. People are concerned about the need to protect their personal feelings, especially when they express them to people whom they consider their confidants. However, many governments around the world are trying to use modern technology to access some of the information that people consider confidential for the purpose of enhancing security or addressing public concern.
According to the research conducted by Smith (14), it was established that Americans highly value their privacy. They always try to use all possible means to ensure that their personal lives remain personal. There has been pressure on the government to eliminate all the technological instruments that it is using to spy on its citizens.
However, we have just learned that the Library of Congress has plans to archive all the tweets to form researchable information that the government can use to understand the needs of its citizens. This noble move will help the government to capture the varying opinions of its people on various issues. However, the main issue of concern is the privacy of Americans. People use Tweeter to communicate sensitive issues about business.
Others use this social media to share their personal lives with people close to them. Some of the information available at this site is so personal and sensitive that many people are worried that their privacy will be jeopardized by the state. This research will focus on understanding how this move will breach on Americans privacy and the possible state of privacy in the future.
Library of Congress’ Decision to Archive All Tweets
The public was shocked following the revelation made in early January 2013 that the Library of Congress was archiving all American tweets. Americans value their privacy, and many of them always make all the possible efforts to ensure that it is protected. This explains why the recent decision to archive all the Tweets of the Americans has raised a lot of concern. The management of the library has explained that the archived tweets will remain protected from any form of intrusion by any third party.
However, a section of the society is reading malice out of this move. It is not the first time the government is trying to breach the privacy of its citizens, and that of notable world leaders (Smith 14).
Many people feel that the government is interested in gathering intelligence that may not only help it track the activities of the criminals, but also enable it to gather other personal information that is relevant to the state. Some powerful people can use such pieces of information for their personal gains. The following are some of the questions that people are asking following the announcement of this decision.
- What is the exact motive of the government in collecting such information?
- Who are the people who will access such tweets once they are archived?
- What guarantee will the government have that this information will be protected from misuse by personal individuals?
They are some of the questions that Americans have following this announcement. Others are even concerned about the scandalous tweets that would reveal their private lives that they have been hiding for years. Although the management of this library has tried to respond to these questions in order to assure American citizens that there is no malicious motive in the deal, many people are yet to be convinced.
China Uses iCloud to Spy on its Citizen
In October 21, 2014, a leading newspaper in China reported that the Chinese government is using the Great Firewall of China to spy on its citizens. The Chinese government has been struggling to quell the revolution that has been common in some parts of the country, especially among the Tibetans. More recently, student-led protests paralyzed the operation in Hong Kong, one of the most active cities in China (Torres 1).
These events got the government worried, and in its attempt to crack the whip on the dissenting voices, it has improvised the Great Firewall of China to help it track the troublemakers. This has been made simple because of the technology that the government uses to track down messages shared by users of iCloud.
The decision remained secret until some investigative journalists revealed it. However, the government has maintained that those are speculations that have no basis. However, the reports have credibly proven that the security agencies are not using the Great Firewall of China to access information in the iCloud. This has created worries among individual Chinese and companies using these services.
Similarities and Differences in the Above Two Cases
The two cases about the United States and China demonstrate a deliberate attempt by the government agencies in the two countries to spy into the personal lives of the members of the public. Both governments are denying the claim that they are breaching into the privacy of their citizens by giving lame excuses. The Library of the Congress is giving the excuse that the archiving is meant to provide information for research.
The Chinese government on its part is denying any possibility of having apparatus, which are meant to collect information from the citizens without their consent. These two cases have some differences. The main difference is that while the American government has accepted that it is archiving the tweets, the Chinese government has not accepted the claim at all. The Chinese move to spy on its citizens is motivated by its desire to crack the whip on the dissenting voices, while the American government is trying to enhance its security.
Prediction of the Future State of Privacy
With the ongoing advancements in telecommunications, the future state of privacy is very bleak. Although people cherish their privacy so much, technology is increasingly making it easy to access information from people without their own knowledge. It is now clear that any information shared using phones, internet, or any other online platforms can be accessed by the government without the knowledge of the concerned parties.
In the future, it will be almost impossible to protect one’s secret unless it remains in mind. There is a possibility that the government will have the capacity to gather information shared between individuals who speak face-to-face. This may be worsened by the growing tension in these countries. As Bell (64) says, many governments are now pursuing interests, which are not in line with the desires of their citizens.
This will hurt social life because almost all good things are shrouded with mysteries and secrete. The government will be at liberty to collect any form of information it desires from its citizens. This will hurt many, and the technology that we believe is helpful may be avoided by future generations.
Works Cited
Bell, James. Exploring the Singularity. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, 2007. Print.
Smith, Richard. “Library of Congress Is Archiving All Of America’s Tweets.” The Telegraph 2013: 14. Print.
Torres, Charles. “China allegedly using iCloud to spy on its own citizens.”Slash Gear 4.12 (2014): 1.