Pros And Cons Of Privacy Versus National Security

The advancement of technology has numerous benefits to society. Technology is reliable for communication, convenient for performing daily tasks and provides instantaneous access to information. While these statements hold true, there is one major con of technology: lack of privacy. Privacy can be invaded via the internet due to social media accounts, e-mails, browser cookies and caches. Besides the internet, smart cards and security tags are two other ways of collecting information. The National Security Agency (NSA) records personal information through technology and distributes it to the government. It is ordinarily said the government and NSA collaborate in collecting data to protect the country against terrorism. While that might be valid,
According to Dictionary.com, privacy is defined as the “state of being free from unwanted or undue intrusion or disturbance in one’s private life or affairs; freedom to be let alone.” This means that privacy is meant to be secret information about one’s life that is not to be invaded by an unauthorized party. Before the internet, people lived more privately. In the article “How Do Americans Weigh Privacy Versus National Security?” by Lauren Cassani Davis, the 2016 Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll resulted that the Greatest and Silent generations (people born between 1910 and 1945) were less concerned about privacy invasion, meanwhile the Baby Boomers and all generations after felt the opposite. This is because most people born in the early and mid-1900s have less knowledge with technology and the internet. Recent generations were born into a technology-driven society and therefore have become accustomed to the use of technology in their everyday
For the most part RFIDs are mainly invisible, which consequently make tracking and data collection practically effortless. They can be found in memory chips, book labels, anti-theft devices, EZPass tags, etc. There are even certain devices that use RFIDs, such as tracking chips put on equipment, animals and children. Some RFID tags can be used in matrices “as real time locators systems (RTLS) that can record movements and locations of tagged entities,” according to Strickland and Hunt. A popular, oblivious way of everyday data collection through radio frequency is Wi-Fi. The availability of “free” Wi-Fi in public places, such as McDonalds or subway terminals is a consumer trap. Customers accept to the terms and conditions without a thoroughly reading the agreement and, in doing so, unknowingly give consent for the companies to access any information through the Wi-Fi.
Nonetheless, technology has advanced to the point where fingerprints and retinal scans are used for identification in workplaces, and even on smartphones. Strickland and Hunt state French companies use devices made from the “combination of an RFID chip—containing all current passport data as well as detailed biometric [biological] information—and a printed, conductive ink antenna.” Biometric data is being used to identify an individual nowadays because identity theft is a common fear, but this data could also be collected